Poetry Slam Dunk

 

What a ball we've had for Poetry Day Ireland in the Oblate Hall in Inchicore, throwing balls and words around!

Thanks to all in SMGS and in Mercy for being game, to Poetry Ireland for the support and the funding, and to the RTÉ News and Morning Ireland crew for tagging along.

Here is the poem(written by me!) that was read on air.

Reinventing...

The last few months have been many things and one of them was a very steep learning curve and a complete recalibration of how us kids' writers and creatives do our job. Because it's not just sitting at your desk all day and typing or doodling away, it's not just time alone thinking and dreaming and imagining. It's also, of course, getting out there, meeting young readers and writers and their families, their teachers, their librarians, their teddies! 

With 'out there' being essentially out of bounds, we've have to reinvent how we do things. Over the past while, I've been busy experimenting with online workshops (junior book club, toddler time, writing club, even Zoom baby book clubs!), pre-record videos (writing challenges, desincarnated residencies...) and also outdoors events. 

Those are the new ways we'll get to reach out to kids, families, schools, libraries and festival goers for the next while. It's been intense and intensive and, sometimes, very enjoyable!

So, teachers, librarians, festival programmers, if you want to keep young readers and writers engaged, chat to a creative today, they'll have come up with something! (such as my Poetry Treasure Hunt or my Ninja Writer's Workout, more here)

The Wilds of Kildare

Last week was another busy week, as I was invited to take part in the Children's Books Festival organised by the Kildare Libraries: Newbridge, Athy, Kildare Town, Maynooth, Leixlip, Naas, Celbridge... the county holds no secrets for me now.
I met with hordes of enthusiastic Senior Infants, 1st and 2nd class, plus, once, an entire school where children aged 6-12 all had some excellent questions about the writer's job and the intricacies of Disaster David. They were not alone in this. Everywhere I went, the kids were full of chat and ideas and comments, in the best possible way.

We did a lot of predictions and wondered if people could break their legs in a book for children (they can). We looked at how a book was made and explored the role of the illustrator, the writer and the printer (sorry editors and publishers, you were only briefly mentioned!). We talked about giants and about how we might live if we suddenly became one: would we play football with the moon or basketball with humans? eat our breakfast out of a bathtub? use lots of planes as a jetpack to go about the world? wear trees or houses for clothes?

There were some brilliant suggestions there and some terrific drawing of what life might be like if we had a Gigantor (a gun for making everything giant-sized), if our entire family could fit in the palm of our hand, if we could (literally) break into banks and so on. Some of our giants were too big to fit on the page, one of them (stroke of genius!) even had her head on the other side of the paper!

A week before the end of the school year, one might have worried about a certain lack of focus or too much excitement (in one school they still had the bouncy castle from Active Week up and running, an actual BOUNCY CASTLE!). There would have been no need: those kids were so on the ball and into it, and SO well behaved. Special mention of the school I met in Athy who came into the library, sat down on the mats and just listened without anybody telling them to do any of these things. And also a special shout out to the ladies of Presentation Girls in Maynooth, all 60 of them, who were awesome.
To everyone, thank you so much! It was a pleasure meeting you and sharing stories with you (some young writers in Celbridge actually brought in their own productions!). Have a brilliant summer!

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?!

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!

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...

From one festival to the next: Roll on November!

So, the Children's Books Festival is nearly officially over. Didn't get enough? Fear not, dear reader, as the Dublin Book Festival is on its merry way! Running from 13 November to the 18th, it's got an impressive and varied line-up of writers for little, medium and big people including some of your favourites such as Biddy Jenkinson, Laura Jane Cassidy, Oisín McGann, David Maybury, Alan Corbet, Niall de Búrca and many more. There will be storytelling, treasure-hunting, book-binding, reading and general shenaniganning. 

Oh yeah, and there will be me... More on this last bit later.
Meanwhile, the website is here. The children's programme is ici and the school events are listed aqui.

Festival of Stories 2012 at Imaginosity

Will you be there? Because I will. And Sadie, and Mad Cap and Norbert and Manic Mudrick and and Scrum the cat.... The works!

We will be doing a Hero DIY workshop on Sunday 28 (yes, THIS Sunday) at 4pm. You have been warned!
All the details are here.

In full swing

And so, the 2012 Children's Books Festival is entering its second week and going strong. This is my first year taking part from the author side of the fence and it's been quite something so far!
After 7 events in as many days, my brain has started getting into high-spin mode, but I still have plenty of adrenaline left in my system to buoy me up through the exhaustion, the rain and the lack of chocolate around the house. (I hope).
Last week saw my partner in workshop Sadie Cramer and myself visit the sun-flooded library in Stillorgan where we met two bunches of very keen and very alert ladies. Both were 5th class, the first lot came from Mount Anville, the second from Saint Raphaela's (whom the book is partly dedicated to) (yes, it was a bit of a shock to them) (long story). We saw some very cool heroic logos created there and some terrific cliffhangers written (I for one want to know what became of Juliette Froggy Girl please!).

On the Friday I ventured all on my lonesome to meet this strange species called... boys, in Willow Park School in Blackrock. Like the girls before them, two groups of third class tried their hand at writing about a superhero of their making: how he/she/it got superpowers, what happened when he/she/it first met Santa/monkeys from outer space/another hero, that sort of thing. To spice it up though they had to include a random word (given by me) in their story, in any shape and guise they wanted. Which is how we ended up with Kettle Man. (And also Super Hot Dog Man but that had nothing to do with me or the approaching lunch time).

Finally on Monday 8 October, I joined forces with Sadie again to explore Castletymon Library in South Dublin, where we were awaited by three(separate) groups from St Kevin's GNS, Scoil Aonghusa and Scoil Cholmcille. There was some serious writing and illustrating here too. The last class we met was actually reading Chop-Chop, Mad Cap! so it was a slightly different experience for us. For them too, in fact, as they got a special treat in the shape of an extract from Mad Cap's next adventure and as they made suggestions of titles and plot lines for the third or fourth instalment in the series.
Those guys were very optimistic! Thanks!
Over the week we got lots of brilliant, pointed questions ranging from technique to inspiration via career, money and 'can you speak French to us please?' But I think I should leave you with the best questions of all, asked by one of the lads in Castletymon:
'How big would you say is your love of writing?'
Can anybody trump that? I think not!

For more pics of the week that was, head over to Sadie's blog here.

Back from Newbridge

And so, Sadie and myself were in Newbridge. Locked up in a room full of super heroes of all shapes and sizes as well as their creators. Electricity Man, Smelly Man, Hello Kitty, the Big-Eyed Bug, Sweet Tooth, Valkyrie Cain, Rat Girl and her best pal Cat Girl, Mega Man, Jonathan Ripples, Caffein Man, Dog Man, Weather Man, Kitten Cat, Tea Man and the rest... not to mention their respective arch enemies and secret weaknesses (including decaf coffee, worms and naan bread)... there was some serious imagining going on.
And thanks to Sadie you can have an idea of what we all got up to.

For more, head over to Sadie's blog and look out for more shennanigans during the Children's Books Festival, starting next week. Stillorgan, Castletymon, Blackrock... here we come!

What are YOU doing in September?

As for me (and artist Sadie Cramer) I'll be busy running the fantaglorious Hero DIY workshop at the Riverbank Arts Centre in Newbridge, on sat 22nd.

Madgie Cappock aka Mad Cap and her best friend Norbert Soup of the Rent-a-Hero agency are recruiting new members. Do you have what it takes to join the gang? If you think you can tackle elephant-sized cats, crazy purple-haired old ladies and tap-dancing rabbits, the job could be yours! Author Juliette Saumande and artist Sadie Cramer will help you develop your own superhero identity and brush up your heroic CV, in this fun-filled writing and illustration workshop. You'll be ready to fly to the rescue in no time!

Wanna come with?

Not to miss: Read for the world at the Irish Writers Centre

I'll miss it as it's tomorrow and I'll be busy tucking in more Parisian delicacies, but it sounds deadly!

The Irish Writers' Centre are attempting to break the world record for "most authors reading consecutively from their own books"! From Friday 15th June at 10am right through to Bloomsday 16th June at 2pm, 111 writers (including children's favourites Sarah Webb, John Boyne, Carlo Gébler, Conor Kostick, Alan Nolan, Jane Mitchell, Marita Conlon-McKenna, Sarah Rees Brennan, 2012 CBI Awards shortlistee Roddy Doyle and winner of the CBI Book of the Year Award Celine Kiernan) will read for 15 minutes each, for 28 hours straight! Phew! The event will be broadcast LIVE online at www.writerscentre.ie.

Artistry in Newbridge

Check out this brand new, super splendid exhibition at the Riverbank arts centre in Newbridge. It's called The Illustrators, is curated by the UK Children's laureate, Gruffalo creator, and general kidlit megastar Julia Donaldson, and it does exactly what it says on the tin. 

"This fantastic exhibition curated by author Julia Donaldson featuring over 50 original artworks by illustrators Axel Scheffler, Emily Gravett and Nick Sharratt, to name but a few! This is your chance to see The Gruffalo, Stickman and Zog as never before, alongside many other wonderful pieces created by the artists who have collaborated with Julia on her best-selling picturebooks over the past two decades... A complementary programme of family events will also run throughout April, including a double-bill screening of the award winning animated short films The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child animated short films (featuring Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, and John Hurt) and puppet shows by master puppeteer Martin Cahill, bringing some of Julia Donaldson’s most popular titles to life."


There's also a GRUFFALO DISCO!!!
More info over here. 

Grounded (not me!)

Guess who's going on an adventure next week? Off into town with 2 munchkins in tow to attend the launch of Grounded by Sheena Wilkinson published by Little Island.
Grounded is the much awaited sequel to award-winning Taking Flight.
The party's on at Hodges Figgis on April 5 from 6pm. All are welcome. RSVP to Elaina O’Neill: 085 228 3060 / elaina.oneill@littleisland.ie
 

Off we go!

And we're back!

So we are, after some very intensive but very fantastic time up in the French Alps. As mentionned before, I was invited to a book festival and fair in Ugine in Savoie where I also had the opportunity to visit no less than 10 classes in different schools.

Said schools are planted on the side of mountains with views you wouldn't believe (which is why I photographed some of them) and are usually quite small with a couple (sometimes literally) of multi-level classes, which seems to suit everybody.

We chatted books, writing, ideas, cats, chocolate and fantasy for two days and a great time was had by all (I think).
And yes, there were some local cheeses, snow bikes and snow shoes involved too. Sadly, I can't find the pics for those...

;)

Busy month

This is a busy time of year for the kidlit-minded in general and me in particular. The Bologna Ragazzi Fair is just round the corner, while the Paris Book Fair is practically upon us (opens on Thursday). As for myself, I will be in Paris (for a bit of literary shopping) and then in Ugine in the French Alps for a couple (12!) of school events and a two-day festival involving signing, crosscountry-skiing and perhaps a spa.
Busy, I tell you!

Manga-nificent!

Ibby Ireland is treating you to an evening all about manga this Thursday 9 December at Exchange in Dublin. Meet the artists, learn about their techniques, grab a free manga book and gobble up some sushi from 6.15pm. More info over here.

Story Spark Sparked Off

 And in great style at that. Last Monday saw the great and the good of the Irish children's books scene with a crowd of authors, illustrators, storytellers, facilitators and young readers from far and wide (but mostly from Bray!).

Joseph O'Connor officially opened proceedings with a fantastic speech, which you can read on The Ark's blog (here). But I can't resist giving you the last paragraph of it:

"And I also believe, without his solidarity and courage, that his life, and therefore mine, would have been different indeed. All my life I have been given chances he did not have. The same is true of many of us. It’s hard not to be scared when times change very suddenly, as they have for many of us in what seems only a few months. But to read with a child can never be taxed, to believe there are deeper solidarities than the merely financial. Things were not better in the old days. Nobody sane could say that. But the example of that generation of Irish people has much to offer. It could be a time to remember the story of where we came from. It will help us write the story of where we’re going. For a story, in order to work, needs to have a good ending. And the story of our country and of our city is far from over, despite these times. The story gives us back our dignity, our passion, our pride, our courage, our solidarity, our pleasure, our sense of wonder, and to know there are young readers here in this room tonight is a cause of pride and celebration for all of us. I am honoured to be among them, and blessed, and fortunate. They represent the greatest values we have, the values that will see us through, and the future of the Irish story."


This week-end will see the kick-off of the series of public events, with Derek Landy and Anthony McGowan on Saturday, and Roddy Doyle and Frank Cottrell Boyce on Sunday.

Now be quick and book them tickets!