Author Maria Burke visits Killaloe and Scariff libraries

The Ark of Dun Ruah books by Maria Burke were brought to life for the children of Scariff and Killaloe National Schools when they visited their local libraries on World Book Day. Maria is a writer, radio presenter and artist and having also worked as a primary school teacher, was well equipped to entertain her young audience bringing her love of storytelling to them through her two fantasy novels published to date. She spoke to the children about how she writes and how they in turn could work towards becoming writers themselves. She also spoke about the importance of reading and formulated 10 good reasons to read with the help of the children present. She brought along her sketchbook and spoke of how the cover art for the book came about and this part of the session was particularly appealing to the audience who later listened attentively to extracts from her book. Most of the children present had read some of Maria’s book and they had lots of questions for the author and well thought out comments. Their teachers were very grateful to the library for organizing the event and commented how proactive Clare County Library was in encouraging reading amongst children. Maria’s two books, The Ark of Dun Ruah and The Ark of Dun Ruah: Protectors of the Flame are available for borrowing from Clare County Library branches.