For the Sheer Hell of It

So the bit on the telly went pretty well. As ever, it feels like you’ve walked into the middle of a busy kitchen and everyone else knows what’s cooking, and only have time to tell you just barely what you need to know to do your bit. Trying to say everything you want to get said in the three…

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On the Box

I’m going to be appearing on Elev8, on RTE 2 at around midday on Monday (the show is airing earlier than normal because of Easter). It’s part of the promotion for the Drogheda Arts Festival. The Enchanted Exhibition, which started out in the Garter Lane Arts Centre in Waterford, has now moved to the arts centre in Drogheda, and…

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Getting Stuck In

I got involved in a project recently, to make something of a run-down, overgrown spot in the town of Athboy, County Meath. Formerly the stables of Athboy House and known locally sometimes as ‘the Old Piggery’, the site comprised of a walled square with stone stable buildings  round a courtyard at one end. A small heritage garden sits between…

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Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire 2011

I’m delighted to say to that ‘Voraces’, the French edition of ‘Ancient Appetites’, has been shortlisted in France for the ‘Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2011′. It’s in the category  ‘Roman jeunesse étranger’, (number six on the list of categories on the award’s site). I’m up against some pretty tough competition. Here’s the full list for the category: Le Sortilège…

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Alternative Approaches

This post is dedicated to various aspects of not doing things the normal way. I’m going to start with a recent article in the Meath Chronicle about a class in St Fintina’s Post Primary in Longwood, County Meath. Each of the first year students has been provided with a Fizzbook Spin tablet-style laptop. The school worked with The Educational…

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Show-Jumping Cow

It’s always nice to see someone doing things differently. I can only imagine the  persistence, patience and downright bloody-mindedness it would take to teach a cow how to jump fences. But someone’s done it. This girl’s parents wouldn’t give her a horse, so she trained her cow, Luna, for show-jumping. And what it lacks in height, it makes up…

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RSVP

I am reminded of that famous line from the trashy classic, ‘Robocop’: ‘You have twenty seconds to comply’. Except in this case, it’s: ‘You have twenty minutes to reply’. After that, you know that new email you’ve just received is getting knocked down the list in your inbox. I went into business for myself just a few years before…

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