The recipient of the first ever "Listowel Food Fair Irish Food Book of the Year Award" is Cornucopia at Home, a collection of recipes from one of Dublin's best known vegetarian whole food restaurants. Written, designed and beautifully photographed by former Cornucopia staff members Eleanor Heffernan, Orla Keeshan and Orlagh Murphy respectively, the book is a labour of love and passion for the good things to eat they have produced over the years. It also includes the moving story of the origins of the restaurant, founded by Deirdre McCafferty and her late husband, Neil. Speaking about the award, Jimmy Deenihan, TD and Chairman of the Listowel Food Fair, said: "We were delighted to initiate this new award in this, our 14th year of the Fair. The winning book is a most attractive publication, beautifully designed and illustrated and superbly written. Listowel has a strong association with both writing and food and we plan to make food associated literature an ongoing, integral feature of the Listowel Food Fair." The Award was presented at the official launch of the Listowel Food Fair to Ruth O'Quigley on behalf of Deirdre McCafferty by the son of the late John. B. Keane, journalist and publican Billy Keane. Cornucopia at Home (ISBN 978-0-9552261-4-4, Hardback, 246 x 189mm, 564pp, €39)
Monday, 17 November 2008
Listowel Food Fair Irish Food Book of the Year Award
The recipient of the first ever "Listowel Food Fair Irish Food Book of the Year Award" is Cornucopia at Home, a collection of recipes from one of Dublin's best known vegetarian whole food restaurants. Written, designed and beautifully photographed by former Cornucopia staff members Eleanor Heffernan, Orla Keeshan and Orlagh Murphy respectively, the book is a labour of love and passion for the good things to eat they have produced over the years. It also includes the moving story of the origins of the restaurant, founded by Deirdre McCafferty and her late husband, Neil. Speaking about the award, Jimmy Deenihan, TD and Chairman of the Listowel Food Fair, said: "We were delighted to initiate this new award in this, our 14th year of the Fair. The winning book is a most attractive publication, beautifully designed and illustrated and superbly written. Listowel has a strong association with both writing and food and we plan to make food associated literature an ongoing, integral feature of the Listowel Food Fair." The Award was presented at the official launch of the Listowel Food Fair to Ruth O'Quigley on behalf of Deirdre McCafferty by the son of the late John. B. Keane, journalist and publican Billy Keane. Cornucopia at Home (ISBN 978-0-9552261-4-4, Hardback, 246 x 189mm, 564pp, €39)
Ready, Set, Bio! Small Science, Big Ideas
Ready Set Bio! - an exciting science workshop aimed at primary school children - took place in deValera Library on Monday the 10th of November to mark Science Week 2008. The interactive workshop introduced a hands-on approach to teaching science and was also lots of fun for the children who came from the Holy Family Primary School in Ennis. The workshop included discussions, experiments and games as well as some fun forensic crime solving. Teachers and children both enjoyed the event and became very involved in it.
Friday, 14 November 2008
Two Irish authors nominated for the Impac award
The longlist for the 2009 Impac Dublin Prize – the most lucrative award for writing in English (or translated into English) and worth €100,000 - has been announced. One hundred and forty-seven authors have been nominated by 157 libraries in 117 cities and 41 countries worldwide. The bookies are backing Khalid Hosseini to win the prize. His novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, received nominations from 18 libraries, five ahead of the next most-popular book. Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje was nominated by 13 libraries, just ahead of Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach, which received 10 nods. Two Irish writers, 2007 Man Booker winner Anne Enright and Joseph O'Connor, feature alongside expected international names such as Doris Lessing, JM Coetzee and Mario Vargas Llosa. Anne Enright has been nominated for the award by libraries in Dublin, Prague, San Francisco, San Diego, Brazil and Frankfurt for her 2008 Man Booker Prize winning novel, The Gathering. Joseph O’Connor has been nominated by libraries in Cork and Limerick for his latest book, Redemption Falls. Irish novelist Colm Tóibín won the prize in 2006 for his book The Master. “The 156 authors hail from 41 countries. The books span 18 languages, 29 of which are translated from languages such as Arabic, Japanese, Russian, Slovenian and Hebrew. 19 of them are first novels. These are books that might not otherwise come to the attention of Irish readers”, says Deirdre Ellis-King, Dublin City Librarian. “The spread of languages and the number of books in translation continues to grow”. This is the 14th year in which the Impac prize has been awarded. Six translated works have won the award in that time. Last year’s winner was De Niro’s Game by the Lebanese novelist Rawi Hage. The shortlist will be announced on April 2 2009 and the winning novel will be revealed on June 11 2009
Bad publicity affects sales of Ross’s and Brand’s memoirs
Sales of Jonathan Ross's appropriately named memoir Why Do I Say These Things? almost halved in the week after the so called "Sachsgate" affair. Both Brand and Ross published new books on October 16. Figures released by Nielsen BookScan showed that Ross's book sales fell from 10,535 copies in the week before the radio programme to 5,791 copies the week afterwards, a 45% decrease. Brand also saw a drop in sales, with his new book Articles of Faith, a collection of his Guardian columns about football, dropping from 1,852 copies passing through the tills in the week before the scandal to 1,684 the week after. Ross has since been suspended for the now infamous prank, while Brand has resigned. Philip Stone, charts editor at the Bookseller, said that notoriety had been similarly unhelpful for other celebrity authors in recent years. Sales of John Major's memoir, he said, actually dropped after news of his affair with Edwina Currie broke in September 2002, while Jade Goody also saw sales of her autobiography fall in the week of the Big Brother racism row. "With so many celebrity memoirs out in the market this Christmas and the choices open to the public so wide and varied one can't help but feel that customers who were previously thinking 'Ross' may be persuaded to shop elsewhere. Alan Carr, Paul O'Grady, Michael Parkinson, Dawn French in particular, perhaps," added Stone.
Kenny’s Choice : 101 Irish Books You Must Read
Des Kenny’s choice of the 101 Irish Books you should read ranges over novels, plays, poetry, memoir, history and travelogue, written in the past two centuries by Irish writers or by foreign writers on Irish topics. The book features a two page review of each title, some as Gaeilge, as well as information on each author. All of the major writers such as John Banville, Seamus Heaney, Jennifer Johnston, Brian Moore, William Trevor, Samuel Beckett, and WB Yeats are included. However, Kenny also wanted to include writers whose work has suffered neglect or marginalisation over the last few decades and to convince people to read them again. As with all such ‘lists’ it is the books that are excluded as much as those included that generate interest. Everyone’s 101 books would be different but Des Kenny’s list will no doubt surprise, intrigue and perhaps even infuriate readers. Kenny’s Choice : 101 Irish Books You Must Read by Des Kenny is published by Currach Press, 2008.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Lauren Child
If you are looking for the ideal book gift for small children this Christmas, look no further than Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Lauren Child. The author brings her trademark innovative approach to this amazingly life-like retelling of a classic, well loved tale. The photographed toys specially created for the book along with the enchanting hand-built sets produce startlingly real illustrations that bring Goldilocks and the Three Bears to life like never before. The story too is presented in a refreshingly different way. It is guaranteed to become a treasure that young children, even as they grow older, will return to, over and over again. Lauren Child is one of today’s most talented and well-known children’s writers and illustrators. She has won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize and the Kate Greenaway Medal and is loved by parents and children for her Clarice Bean and Charlie and Lola books. Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Lauren Child is published by Puffin, 2008.
Monday, 10 November 2008
Transatlantic Children’s Reading Challenge Wins Top Honour At Local Government Awards 2008
For the second year in a row Clare County Council was named overall winner of the ‘Arts and Culture’ category at the Chamber’s Ireland Excellence in Local Government Awards, held in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dublin on Thursday the 8th of November. The local authority received the prestigious honour for the “WOW Transatlantic Children’s Reading Challenge” project, which is organised by Clare County Library. Last year the library won in the same category for Foto, its innovative online photographic collection. The Reading Challenge project involves thousands of children from County Clare, Nova Scotia, London, and the United States who ‘compete’ with one another to become the best readers in the world, in order to reduce crime through increased literacy.
The initiative forms part of the “The Adopt-A-Library Literacy Program”, which was developed by Clare County Library in 2006 in partnership with An Garda Siochana, National Schools in Clare, Pictou Antigonish Regional Library (Nova Scotia, Canada) and The Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Adopt-A-Library works by connecting policing agencies together with libraries. The police act as the bridge between the community and the library, and in return, the library develops programs and activities that directly impact literacy amongst children. Primary School children are asked to take up the challenge to read as much as they can during the year, using books at school, at home and from the public library.
Mayor of Clare, Cllr. Madeleine Taylor Quinn expressed delight with the award success noting that it followed less than two months after the Clare County Council Motor Taxation Office was presented with two national awards by the Excellence Ireland Quality Association (EIQA). She added that the recent awards underlined the high quality of service being delivered by Local Government across a variety of areas. Commenting on the Adopt-A-Library programme, The Mayor said, “I understand that Clare County Library is conscious of presenting the WOW Reading Challenge as a fun exercise where teachers, schoolchildren, the library and An Garda Síochána join as a community, to promote reading as a fun and inclusive exercise. From the library’s point of view, the ultimate aim is to encourage the children to read and use the library more. From An Garda Síochána’s point of view the WOW Reading Challenge is the ideal opportunity to engage in community policing and to advocate literacy as a means of ensuring children and youth have high self esteem and feel in control of their lives”, explained the Mayor.
Commenting on the role played by An Garda Siochana in delivering the programme, Mayor Taylor Quinn stated, “Gardai at Ennis Garda Headquarters, under the supervision of Sgt. John Staunton, has been exceedingly supportive of the project. Joining with the library service Clare Garda Division assigned fifteen members of the Gardai to the project, who visited schools on a regular basis, sometimes with library staff, to promote the challenge and to drive home the message that increased literacy means decreased crime. Teachers and Clare County Library staff involved in the project all agree that the participating Gardaí worked far beyond the call of duty in engaging and inspiring the young readers in the schools they visited.”
Commenting on the award success, Chief Superintendent Gerry Mahon, said, “The Clare Division of An Garda Siochana is delighted to be associated with this immensely successful project, which has brought together children from two Continents under a common cause. Members of An Garda Siochana will continue to assist with this project, the continuation of which will prove be of huge benefit to many young people. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Clare County Library for developing this innovative project and earning this award".
Clare Schools that performed especially well this year’s “WOW Transatlantic Children’s Reading Challenge” included Lahinch National School and Furglan National School who came second and third respectively in the overall International Challenge among schools in Nova Scotia, London and the US. Big Tancook Elementary School in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, Canada, took first place out of the four participating countries. Prizes were presented to Lahinch, Furglan and Clouna National Schools, in Ennistymon on the 22nd May 2008 by the then Mayor of Clare, Councillor Patricia McCarthy.
The initiative forms part of the “The Adopt-A-Library Literacy Program”, which was developed by Clare County Library in 2006 in partnership with An Garda Siochana, National Schools in Clare, Pictou Antigonish Regional Library (Nova Scotia, Canada) and The Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Adopt-A-Library works by connecting policing agencies together with libraries. The police act as the bridge between the community and the library, and in return, the library develops programs and activities that directly impact literacy amongst children. Primary School children are asked to take up the challenge to read as much as they can during the year, using books at school, at home and from the public library.
Mayor of Clare, Cllr. Madeleine Taylor Quinn expressed delight with the award success noting that it followed less than two months after the Clare County Council Motor Taxation Office was presented with two national awards by the Excellence Ireland Quality Association (EIQA). She added that the recent awards underlined the high quality of service being delivered by Local Government across a variety of areas. Commenting on the Adopt-A-Library programme, The Mayor said, “I understand that Clare County Library is conscious of presenting the WOW Reading Challenge as a fun exercise where teachers, schoolchildren, the library and An Garda Síochána join as a community, to promote reading as a fun and inclusive exercise. From the library’s point of view, the ultimate aim is to encourage the children to read and use the library more. From An Garda Síochána’s point of view the WOW Reading Challenge is the ideal opportunity to engage in community policing and to advocate literacy as a means of ensuring children and youth have high self esteem and feel in control of their lives”, explained the Mayor.
Commenting on the role played by An Garda Siochana in delivering the programme, Mayor Taylor Quinn stated, “Gardai at Ennis Garda Headquarters, under the supervision of Sgt. John Staunton, has been exceedingly supportive of the project. Joining with the library service Clare Garda Division assigned fifteen members of the Gardai to the project, who visited schools on a regular basis, sometimes with library staff, to promote the challenge and to drive home the message that increased literacy means decreased crime. Teachers and Clare County Library staff involved in the project all agree that the participating Gardaí worked far beyond the call of duty in engaging and inspiring the young readers in the schools they visited.”
Commenting on the award success, Chief Superintendent Gerry Mahon, said, “The Clare Division of An Garda Siochana is delighted to be associated with this immensely successful project, which has brought together children from two Continents under a common cause. Members of An Garda Siochana will continue to assist with this project, the continuation of which will prove be of huge benefit to many young people. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Clare County Library for developing this innovative project and earning this award".
Clare Schools that performed especially well this year’s “WOW Transatlantic Children’s Reading Challenge” included Lahinch National School and Furglan National School who came second and third respectively in the overall International Challenge among schools in Nova Scotia, London and the US. Big Tancook Elementary School in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, Canada, took first place out of the four participating countries. Prizes were presented to Lahinch, Furglan and Clouna National Schools, in Ennistymon on the 22nd May 2008 by the then Mayor of Clare, Councillor Patricia McCarthy.
The Power of Richard & Judy
In the four years since the Richard & Judy bookclub was born, sales of the 82 books that have been discussed on the show have been phenomenal. Combined sales of the 82 titles reached 26.6 million last month accounting for 2.6% of all book sales since the club began in 2004, according to Nielsen BookScan. Jodi Picoult is today one of the biggest names in contemporary fiction, having enjoyed sales of over 5 million in 2007 – the highest gross of any female fiction writer. But before the inclusion of My Sister’s Keeper in the Book Club in 2005, she was almost unheard of in Ireland and England. Now about 8,000 copies of her books sell each week. The authors who have benefited most from the appearance of their books on the famous list are those whose follow-on books contain the phrase ‘from the author of the Richard & Judy bestseller’ on their front cover. The major book retailers say that the only difficulty with a new book from a Richard and Judy author is keeping the book in stock. Richard & Judy have moved from Channel 4 to digital channel UKTV where they continue the Book Club. It remains to be seen whether they will continue to have such a huge influence on what people are reading.
Used Book Sale
Clare County Library is holding a sale of used books from Monday, November 17th until Saturday, November 22nd. The book sale will take place over the week in deValera Library, Ennis during library opening hours. All books are part of used stock from Clare library branches and are in good condition. With the continuous publication of new titles in all categories - fiction, non fiction, children’s and teenage - constant weeding of stock in all branches is necessary. Through this process library staff aim to ensure that the most reliable and attractive collection is available to borrowers at all times. This is a wonderful opportunity for people to have a presence of books in their homes at very little cost.
Ready Steady Read!
Clare County Library is set to embark on the WOW Transatlantic Reading Challenge for the third year running. The Challenge officially starts on Monday, November 24th, 2008 and ends on Friday, April 24th, 2009. Thirty National Schools in Clare took part in the Challenge last year resulting in an overwhelming total of 211,967 books being read by school children during its six month duration. Last year’s winners in County Clare were Lahinch National School. Like Moyasta National School, who were the previous year’s winners, they received €2,000 worth of books for their school. The winning school plus the second and third finalists also received additional prizes courtesy of Clare County Library and Canadian Libraries, who are the founders of the Adopt-A-Library Literacy Programme.
The Adopt-A-Library Literacy Programme was created as a result of a joint initiative between libraries in Nova Scotia, Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Its aim is to give children and youth the tools and the skills they need so they have the power to decide not to engage in criminal behaviour. These tools and skills come through literacy. The Challenge is planned to be a fun exercise where teachers, schoolchildren, the gardai and the library can link up in an inclusive way with the ultimate aim being to encourage children to read and use their local library more. By joining the Reading Challenge children will hopefully become more aware of what their local library has to offer and schools and pupils can decide to avail of free exchange of books on a monthly basis. This is of primary importance following the recent government decision to abolish the Books for Primary Schools Scheme which was delivered by the Library Service for several years up to and including 2008. The Reading Challenge encourages children to read, and read regularly, through friendly competition between schools. Public library staff and local gardai will encourage reading in a variety of ways. The overall winners from all participating countries are decided by the number of books read per capita per school. For 1st Place $3000 CDN goes towards books for the school, 2nd Place, $2000 CDN to go towards books for the school and 3rd Place, $1000 CDN to go towards books for the school. Clare County Library also awards €2,000 worth of books to the school who reads the most in County Clare. The top three schools who read the most will also receive a plaque to keep in their school at an awards presentation in April 2009.
One of the major highlights so far, of the WOW Reading Challenge in Clare was the visit by Constable John Kennedy, the founder of the The Adopt-A-Library Literacy Programme to Clare schools in April 2007. It is hoped that he will make a return visit in Spring 2009 dressed of course in full Royal Canadian Mounted Police uniform to talk to the county’s young readers. Pre-school, primary and secondary school children are all entitled to free library membership. All schools, both Primary and Post Primary, are entitled to a free ‘school’ membership, facilitating borrowing of up to 30 books per month. More than one membership per school is allowed, e.g. one per class.
The Adopt-A-Library Literacy Programme was created as a result of a joint initiative between libraries in Nova Scotia, Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Its aim is to give children and youth the tools and the skills they need so they have the power to decide not to engage in criminal behaviour. These tools and skills come through literacy. The Challenge is planned to be a fun exercise where teachers, schoolchildren, the gardai and the library can link up in an inclusive way with the ultimate aim being to encourage children to read and use their local library more. By joining the Reading Challenge children will hopefully become more aware of what their local library has to offer and schools and pupils can decide to avail of free exchange of books on a monthly basis. This is of primary importance following the recent government decision to abolish the Books for Primary Schools Scheme which was delivered by the Library Service for several years up to and including 2008. The Reading Challenge encourages children to read, and read regularly, through friendly competition between schools. Public library staff and local gardai will encourage reading in a variety of ways. The overall winners from all participating countries are decided by the number of books read per capita per school. For 1st Place $3000 CDN goes towards books for the school, 2nd Place, $2000 CDN to go towards books for the school and 3rd Place, $1000 CDN to go towards books for the school. Clare County Library also awards €2,000 worth of books to the school who reads the most in County Clare. The top three schools who read the most will also receive a plaque to keep in their school at an awards presentation in April 2009.
One of the major highlights so far, of the WOW Reading Challenge in Clare was the visit by Constable John Kennedy, the founder of the The Adopt-A-Library Literacy Programme to Clare schools in April 2007. It is hoped that he will make a return visit in Spring 2009 dressed of course in full Royal Canadian Mounted Police uniform to talk to the county’s young readers. Pre-school, primary and secondary school children are all entitled to free library membership. All schools, both Primary and Post Primary, are entitled to a free ‘school’ membership, facilitating borrowing of up to 30 books per month. More than one membership per school is allowed, e.g. one per class.
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