Clare County Library will be hoisting the flag for children’s books once again this October, offering a month-long festival of authors, illustrators, artists and storytellers designed to spark the imagination of young readers all over the county. Activities will be running in all libraries, including readings by popular authors, art and craft workshops, space exploration! and puppet making, giving Clare’s young people countless opportunities to explore a wide array of books. There are also some excellent opportunities to win prizes for you and your school by logging on to the
Children’s Books Ireland website. With all this and much more in store for October, let Clare County Library lead your way on a journey of book discovery with the help of the 2013 Children’s Book Festival!
Our festival gets a head start this year with the return to Glór Theatre, Ennis, of one of the world’s best-selling children’s and teenage authors, Darren Shan, on the 26th of September. This internationally best-selling author is back with us again, to meet with his thousands of fans in County Clare. Zom-B is his new epic series, launched in September 2012 with a new book publishing every 3 months! His latest release Zom-B Baby is “a big, sprawling, vicious tale... a grisly piece of escapism, and a barbed look at the world in which we live,” according to the author himself. The Ennis Book Shop will join with the library to promote the event selling copies of Darren’s latest book and others in the series on the day.
The second of the library’s book festival events taking place in Glór, this time on the 1st of October, is a storytelling extravaganza by the master of tales Niall de Burca. Renowned for shows full of energy, wit and superb timing, Niall has performed in places as diverse as Tehran and the European Parliament in Brussels. Raised in the West, he emigrated at a young age and lived for many years in New Zealand where he married into a large Maori family. Now living in Dublin, Niall travels worldwide, inspiring people of all ages with his traditional and original tales. To quote the Vienna Review of Books: “His ability to evoke a wide range of emotions from his rapt audience enables him to bewitch people with his stories”. There has been unprecedented interest in these events and both are now fully booked.
Other visiting authors to libraries all over the county include Sheena Wilkinson winner of not one but two prestigious Children’s Book of the Year Awards and Anna Carey whose first book, The Real Rebecca, published in 2011won the Senior Children’s Book Prize at the Irish Book Awards that year.
Alan Nolan is back with his excellent writing and drawing sessions infused with his obvious enthusiasm and enjoyment in what he does best; making books for children.
Bestselling author, Michael Smith whose biography for younger readers – Tom Crean – Iceman - led to the story being incorporated into the schools’ national curriculum will be visiting Kilrush and Kilkee libraries. Author Juliette Saumande is Reviews Editor with Inis, The Children’s Books Ireland Magazine. She has written over twenty picture books (published in France) and one novel in English for younger readers (called Chop-Chop, Mad Cap!) on which she will base four action-packed workshops when she visits libraries in Clare. Sports Journalist Ger Siggins will introduce young readers to his love of rugby through his book Rugby Spirit published last year by O’Brien Press.
Anna Carey is also a journalist who has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent and many other publications. Her first book, The Real Rebecca, was published in 2011, and won the Senior Children’s Book prize at the Irish Book Awards. To the delight of many readers, Rebecca returned in the sequel Rebecca’s Rules in 2012. Rebecca Rocks is book number 3 in the series. “The Drip” is an entertaining and educational account of the water cycle told by a little drip who begins his life dangling from a tap. It is also Gordon Green’s second delightful picture book for children. It will be presented to young audiences in libraries through an exciting and fun workshop by the author.
And these are just the authors visiting our county this October. In addition we invite you to join in our art and craft workshops, space exploration show, an ice-age exploration and puppet making workshops. Contact your local library for details of what’s on in your area. Events are planned specifically for school audiences and teachers are advised to book classes in early to avoid disappointment.
Click here for the full brochure of events (PDF).
