Rachel Von Kooij in Dublin

It was a very international evening: a Dutch author writing in German and living in Austria came to Dublin to celebrate the release of the translation into English of her novel set in Spain.
The launch took place at the Residence of the Austrian Embassy and, although there was no mulled wine or anything christmassy on account of it being still November, it was a warm and lovely event with lots of familiar faces as well as some new ones and some in between faces too (they're the faces of people you've been chatting to for weeks via email but have actually never met).
Rachel Von Kooij read from Bartolomé, The Infanta's Pet in Siobhán Parkinson's translation for Little Island, before answering Marian Keyes' questions together with Siobhán.

Bartolomé is the story of a crippled boy in 16th-century Spain who gets spotted by the Infanta who wants him to become her human pet. When asked if she had considered watering down the cruelty and the occasional violence apparent in some of the scenes, Rachel replied:
"No. Not at all. With children, you can do violence and cruelty with words, because the images that the words will conjure up are images that the child can cope with. If you tell the tale of Hansel and Gretel, the child will come up with an image of the witch and an image of the oven that he or she can cope with. But it doesn't work with film, where you impose an adult-made image on the child viewer."
You can read the first chapter of Bartolomé here and a review over there.

Launched!

There were heroes and monsters, cats and rabbits, zombies and sellotape, and sure it was great!
Madness was had by all at the Little Island launch last Saturday in Smock Alley Theatre, including yours truly...

More can be seen at Sadie's too, including the aforementioned zombies.

Inchicore, Ilac Centre and other places beginning with I

The furthest I've had to travel so far...

;)

Shop local! There may be an author near you...

Let's hear it for Kettle Horse Boy and Super Girls!

More brilliant characters, created this time by the ladies and gentlemen from the Oblate School and Our Lady of Lourdes. Thanks for the hugs!

And now for this week's excitement: the Dublin Book Festival!

A conspiracy of writers.

It's a secret!

Some serious hair action with the girls from George's Hill Presentation School.

Captain Poop Monkey, Black Cat Crazy Hair: you rock!

And, look, a special guest snuck into our session in the Central Library for the Dublin Book Festival.

Siobhán Parkinson, publisher and writer extraordinaire.

Best question of the week (to Sadie): 'How do you feel when you draw?'

Kick off

And so the Dublin Book Festival was launched last night in the very splendid venue of Smock Alley Theatre. Are you ready for a near-week of publishing, talking, reading, bookmaking, treasure-hunting and writing extravaganza?
Alternatively, you can just curl up with a good book (any book, of course) in the kids' area. Fancy bean bags or what?!

Recently read

And it was all good!

Launch!

Are ye ready for this? Monsters VS Superheroes madness at the Dublin Book Festival next week.

Do come and celebrate Jean Flitcroft's Pacific Giants, Annie Grave's new Nightmare Club titles and, yes, our Mad Cap in Smock Alley Theatre on Saturday 17 November at 1pm.
The more, the crazier!

38 and fresh as ever!

(c) Michelle Moloney King. Loving the style!

Inis 38 is here! Where? In your letterbox, your favourite bookshop, your local library, your neighbour's day's post, your greedy hands... 

Everything you ever wanted to know about Sally Nichols, Alexis Deacon, Jutta Bauer, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, eco children's literature, selling children's books to adults, the last Artemis Fowl, the latest David Almond, the first Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland and much, much more all brought to you by a host of brilliant contributors (if I say so myself).
For a sneak peek, click!

Scary Sapphire

Told you she was a psycho cat!
This is Sadie's handiwork and the setting is Imaginosity during their Festival of Stories where we met more superheroes such as Pumpkin Girl and Mister Amazing...

Fan mail

This fan is looking into new and interesting ways to read Mad Cap...
(The hair, I'm told, is not an imitation of Madgie's. Some say it's the other way round.)

That's what I like to see!

Indeed it is!

Mad Cap is on loan in lots of Dublin City libraries and, mysteriously, in Charleville Mall, one must apparently 'reserve [one]self' before reading it. Quite the experience, I know!