ONCE UPON A PLACE NEW STORIES & POEMS FOR CHILDREN BY IRISH WRITERS

Compiled by Laureate na nÓg Eoin Colfer

Published by Little Island Books, available from 15th October 2015 ISBN: 9781910411377, HB, £11.99/€14.99, 224pp.

Laureate na nÓg Eoin Colfer

author of the bestselling Artemis Fowl series, is compiling a new anthology of stories and poems for children that focuses on the special link between story and place in Ireland. Lavish blackand-white charcoal illustrations by award-winning artist and picturebook illustrator P.J. Lynch will make this unique anthology a very beautiful object. Once upon A Place features six new poems by Irish poets alongside stories from many of Ireland’s leading children’s writers including Roddy Doyle, Derek Landy and former Laureate na nÓg Siobhán Parkinson, as well as the first ever story for children by Academy Award nominee Jim Sheridan, director of My Left Foot, The Field and In America. It will also feature new work by Eoin Colfer himself, along with Pat Boran, Seamus Cashman, John Connolly, Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick, Mark Granier, Paula Leyden, Oisín McGann, Geraldine Mills, Jane Mitchell, Kate Newmann, Sarah Webb and Enda Wyley. It will be published by Little Island in October 2015, aimed at 9–12 year olds. In tandem with the production of the Once upon a Place anthology, Eoin Colfer’s Laureate term is also seeing Colfer and a team of storytellers travelling all over the island of Ireland with a tour that began in autumn 2014 and will run until spring 2016. From Hook Head lighthouse in Wexford to a steam train through Fingal in Dublin, to Donegal’s islands and a stunning church in Belfast, this initiative aims to give young people memorable and extraordinary storytelling experiences in magical or inspiring places, and to bring stories to schools and communities that would not otherwise be visited by writers or storytellers for reasons of resources or location. The anthology enhances this project by bringing stories of Irish places to children all over the country and further afield. ‘This is my laureate project with a general aim of connecting today’s screen-centric youngsters to the magic of the country they live in and its rich artistic heritage,’ says Eoin Colfer. Any royalties from the book will go towards the Laureate na nÓg project, which aims to raise the profile of children’s literature in Ireland and internationally and to introduce high quality children’s books to new audiences. Laureate na nÓg is an initiative of the Arts Council / an Chomhairle Ealaíon, which established the honour in 2010 to celebrate excellence in Irish children’s writers and illustrators and to raise the profile of children’s literature in Ireland and internationally. It is supported by Children’s Books Ireland, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Poetry Ireland and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. For further information, contact Elaina Ryan, Director, Children’s Books Ireland at 01 872 7475 elaina@childrensbooksireland.ie