Fallen Star Stories

This years' Astrid Lindgren Memorial award was announced yesterday at the Bologna Book Fair. Argentine illustrator, writer and cartoonist Isol has been awarded the €700,000 award, being praied by the judges for her "energy and explosive emotions". Published in over 20 countries, Isol is the author of 10 books and the illustrator of a further 10 titles. The judges added: “Taking children’s clear view of the world as her starting point, she addresses their questions with forceful artistic expression and offers open answers. With liberating humour and levity, she also deals with the darker aspects of existence.” Congratulations, Isol!!! Image from isolisol.blogspot.com   http://isolisol.blogspot.ie/ http://www.thebookseller.com/news/isol-nabs-astrid-lindgren-prize.html

The 2013 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for 2013 will be announced Tuesday, 26 March at 1pm. The list of worthy nominees for this prestigious award is far to long to recite here. But here's the link that will get you all the information you need. http://www.alma.se/en/   And you can also follow the announcement live on their website!

This is very, very important. Your special World Book Day tokens for this year will expire on Sunday 24 March, 2013.... THAT'S THIS SUNDAY!!!!!! You have 3 days to use them up. After this Sunday, they are no longer valid for use and cannot be accepted. So fight the weather if you have to (safely, of course... don't be foolish) and get down to your local bookshop. You can exchange them for one of the nine specially published World Book Day Books... or use them to get €1.50 off any other book of your choice.

The CBI Book of the Year Awards (the leading childrens' book awards in Ireland) shortlist for 2013 was revealed today. There are 10 titles, each of which is competing for 6 different awards. Included in the awards is the Children's Choice Award, which, personally I feel is the most coveted. This award is voted for by a panel of 10 young juries from across the country to select the one book that children favour above the others. I've always said, if you want to know if a childrens' book is really good.... ask a kid. The awards winners in all six categories will be announced at a ceremony held on May 8. And here's the shortlist: The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan Hóng by Anna Heussaff Na Laochra is Lú by Laoise Ní Cléirigh and illustrated by Steve Simpson Spellbound by Siobhán Parkinson and illustrated by Olwyn Whelan Mise agus an Dragún by Patricia Forde and illustrated by Steve Simpson Dark Warning by Marie Louise Fitzpatrick Oh No, George...

This is just a quick reminder to everyone out there. Thanks to National Book Tokens and a vast array of wonderful publishers, and working in partnership with schools everywhere, the World Book Day book tokens were distributed through the schools with the idea that every child would receive a token. Then, these wonderful people published  the wonderful, exclusive World Book Day books to for children to receive in exchange for a WBD token. Yes, that's right... a book for every child for free. How amazing is that. (Of course, the WBD tokens can be used when purchasing any other book, as well, and you'll receive €1.50 off the price.) These are still available at your local bookshops all over Ireland and the UK, but you'll have to act fast (if you haven't already.) The thing is, these World Book Day tokens are valid for a limited time only..... so..... YOUR WORLD BOOK DAY 2013 BOOK TOKENS ARE ONLY VALID UNTIL THE 24TH MARCH.  After that day, they can no longer be acce...

To close off the World Book Day Extravaganza, I thought you'd be interested in our visiting authors' websites and blogs. So here's the list of where you can find these wonderful people and learn more about their books, storytellings, illustrations and what they'll be up to next. Patricia Forde: http://www.patriciaforde.com/                         This one may be an older site, but you can find Trish's updates on facebook!                          https://www.facebook.com/patricia.forde.148?ref=ts&fref=ts Rab Fulton: Rab is another author/storyteller that you can most easily find and contact on facebook;                     https://www.faceboo...

Today marked the fifth and final day of the annual World Book Day Extravaganza . And what a wonderful day it was! Four sessions catering to a total of 117 children, all enthusiastic, all with brilliant ideas and questions and a huge love of reading... this is what we love to see! The star attraction for our final day of events was a visit from Debbie Thomas, author of the fantastically funny, wonderfully written and wildly imaginative books, Dead Hairy and the new Jungle Tangle . The kids really loved Debbie. While chatting about writing, creating characters and plot lines and how her books came into being, you could sense there were some truly gifted writers just waiting for their moment to emerge. This was the perfect way to round off a week of excitement and fun. Thank you so much, Debbie! And a huge thank you to all 599 brilliant students and their teachers, who make the World Book Day Extravaganza the best week of the year.