Childrens Books

An Féileacán agus an Rí – The Butterfly and the King at Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, Belfast Myra Zepf is a well known Irish children’s writer by now. Most recently her teen novel, Nóinín, was shortlisted for this year’s KPMG…

Unlike modernist poetry or Shakespearean drama, when it comes to children’s picture books, everyone has an opinion. Most of us are exposed to kids’ books in some shape or form and, crucially, 100% of us have been children. For an…

When it comes to food, television or books, there are no tougher critics than small children. They won’t spare your feelings the way adults have been trained to, but they are loyal to what they love. However, small children’s access to food…

Children’s author E.R. Murray is a Middlesbrough transplant in West Cork.  She has also lived in both Dublin and Spain, among other places, and her sense of place has a great influence on the setting of her novels.  Ebony Smart, the…

There’s something to be said about adaptations revealing more about a director’s unmistakable print than original works. If anything, it's adapted films that give the most credence to the auteur theory, because if the authorship of a…

Tarsila Krüse is a children’s book illustrator based in Dublin. She creates art that is whimsical, heartwarming and fun, because she says, she loves making people smile.  Her book "Ná Gabh ar Scoil!" has just been shortlisted for the…

Tatyana Feeney is an illustrator, originally from North Carolina. She moved to Ireland eleven years ago, after meeting her husband one fateful St. Patricks weekend, and they now live in Trim with their two children. I asked Tatyana about…

Sheena Dempsey is an illustrator originally from Cork. She now lives in London with her partner Mick and their adopted ex-racing greyhound, Sandy. She has been illustrating professionally for about five or six years, and in that time,…

NaNoWriMo It’s almost November, this is disgusting, I know. But November also means that NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is here again, encouraging aspiring story-tellers to get those words down onto the page. You can sign up to…

Mutiny in Venice The newly elected mayor of Venice has already made a few foes after ridding local libraries of 50 books for pre-school children, due to their unconventional content. According to this article, the books had been on…