On Sunday, Maedhbh and I drove down to Waterford with our stubbornly independent toddler to attend the launch of ‘Enchanted’, an exhibition of children’s illustrations in the Garter Lane Arts Centre that was taking place the following day. The exhibition is part of the Sprog Children’s Festival, which runs in advance of Spraoi, the main Waterford arts festival. On…
Well . . . no, not quite. But I was recently interviewed by Olive O’Brien for her new children’s book blog, Lilliput Library, on the Hello Magazine’s website. One question that came up during the interview with Jackie Hayden in the Riverbank Arts Centre on Saturday was how one goes about getting interviews in the media. There is no…
On Saturday the 24th, I’m being interviewed by Jackie Hayden, of Hot Press, in the Riverbank Arts Centre in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. It’ll be about an hour and a half long, including time for questions from the audience. It’s happening at 3pm, as part of the centre’s new In Conversation With … series. Jackie will also be interviewing Hugo…
I was down in Kilkenny on Monday, for a session in Stone House Books in the MacDonagh Junction shopping centre. It’s a lovely bookshop, independently owned, and I had a really good time chatting to the kids there. The shop is running a book club over the summer – with discounts on the books they discuss – and their…
From today, until the 28th of August, you can see some of my original artwork at the Garter Lane Arts Centre on O’Connell Street in Waterford. I’m taking part in a children’s book illustration exhibition, entitled ‘Enchanted’, along with Niamh Sharkey, Adrienne Geoghan, Annie West and Bruce Ingman. Adrienne is also doing a couple of workshops there on the…
The Wildenstern Saga is being published in France by Mango Jeunesse, translated by Patrick Imbert. They’ve just sent me the cover for ‘Ancient Appetites’, or ‘Voraces’, and I have to say, it’s pretty cool. I saw an earlier version last week and asked for a minor change to the back cover and they actually took that on board, which…
The sounds I made when I was young. And how little has changed.
For anyone who’s wondering what the process of creating ‘The Vile Desire to Scream’ was like, I’ve written an article on it for the Irish Publishing News blog. There’s been some great feedback on the book, and I’d like to give a big thanks to the hundreds of people who’ve downloaded it so far. Please feel free to hand…
So I did my back in. I managed to get a new TV corner unit on special offer, and had help getting it into the car, but had to get it out on my own. I was well impressed with my own display of Herculean strength, until I got up the following day with a stiff back – a…
I would be wary of claiming that I could define what makes great art, or what qualities bestow the term ‘classic’ on something – particularly when that term can turn most kids off it quicker than pressing the power button. But for me, a great story is one that ticks all my various and demanding boxes and leaves me…