This week, I had a few lovely close-to-home events in County Clare.

On Monday  I went to Killaloe and Scariff. Killaloe must have one of the most beautifully located libraries in the country. It’s right on the water, near Lough Derg.

The librarians in Killaloe were kind enough to say this about my visit:

 

On October 24^th author Judi Curtin visited Killaloe library and spoke to 56 children from 3^rd to 6^th class from Killaloe Girls National School.

 

Judi read a short extract from one of her books, described how she came to be a writer and not a knitter/dressmaker, and answered questions about her career.

 

The majority of the pupils had read at least one of Judi’s books.  They were thrilled to speak to one of their favourite authors and asked lots of questions.  Judi was very approachable and interacted brilliantly with the girls.

 

A lot of the girls took out loan copies of Judi’s books when the book-reading was finished and also asked for her to autograph their own books.  They are all looking forward to reading her next book.

In Scariff, I was interviewed by a group of girls from Mountshannon NS.

The girls had some great questions, and if you’d like to hear the interview, you can hear it here:

 

On Tuesday, I went to Shannon and Newmarket on Fergus. The library staff in both venues gave me a great welcome. The classes who came to see me were wonderful, and they kept me going even when Book Festival exhaustion was setting in in a big way.

And that’s it. I’m sorry to say that Book Festival is over for another year. Thanks to everyone who helped to make my part in it so successful and enjoyable.

Keep watching, as next week I’ll be posting an overview of the festival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well it might be a long way to Tipperary for most of the world, but for people like me, who live in Limerick – well, it’s only up the road.

On Monday I went to Nenagh and Borrisokane. Nenagh is a great town, and I was delighted to visit it again. I’d never been to Borrisokane before though, so I was especially looking forward to that. In Borrisokane, I visited Scoil Mhuire, where I spoke to the lovely children in Second and Third classes. Here I got the best inspiration for along time. One child suggested I set a book in their school, and call it Alice Goes to Borrisokane. I think that’s got a great ring to it, so who knows????

 

On Tuesday it was off to Cashel and Tipperary town.

Here’s me in Cashel library. The teacher in me loves to see all those enthusiastic raised hands. It was a great venue, but an unexpected hailstorm bouncing on the metal roof made it impossible to hear for a few minutes. Someone came up with the great idea of a story of a group of children getting trapped in a library by severe weather. The idea of being trapped in a library sounds like heaven to me, but I suspect that for some of the audience it didn’t sound like so much fun.

In Tipperary Town I visited St Michael’s Girls’ School, and I have to say it was amazing. The girls were so well prepared, it was a joy to speak to them.

And that was week three of Book Festival. Next week it’s off to Clare – I can’t wait!

 

On Tuesday night I went to the launch of the Artemis Project in Dundrum. This is the new childrens section at Eason, and it is amazing. It’s colourful and welcoming, with lots of  places to sit down and browse your favourite books.  I know it’s not meant for me, but I find shopping exhausting, and  some fine day, that gorgeous yellow beanbag is going to be a little bit too tempting!

Here are some more pics, thanks to Sarah Webb and Kieran Harnett:

 

 

I was very much looking forward to my two events with the brilliant Sarah Webb and Oisin McGann – and I wasn’t disappointed!

First up it was The Mermaid Theatre in Bray.

Oisin and Sarah were amazing, and everyone loved their stories of ballet and bulldozers. We all had fun pulling things out of our ‘Memory Box’, and afterwards we enjoyed signing autographs and chatting to the enthusiastic young people.

(In The Mermaid we did our show on the set of The Great Gatsby, which is running at the moment. This was great, as The Great Gatsby is one of my alltime favourite books. I was just sorry I couldn’t stay on for the show.)

 

The next day we set off for The Solstice Theatre in Navan.

The Solstice is an amazing venue – the people of Meath are lucky to have such a great place. Once again, Sarah, Oisin and I had great fun, and our most enthusiastic audience all laughed in the right places and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Big thanks to CBI and the people at Solstice and The Mermaid for organising our mini-tour. (and extra thanks from me to Sarah for actng as my pesonal chauffeur, as I had left my car at home.

Hope to do more ‘Ideas Shop’ events in the future.

Book festival is turning out to be as good as ever.

On Tuesday I went to Mallow and Glanmire. Both events went really well, and afterwards I got to visit my mum and dad for tea and delicious home-made apple tart. What’s not to like?

On Wednesday and Thursday I had events in Lucan and Greenhills.

On Thursday afternoon, I finally met with Woody Fox, my amazing illustrator. We did our first ever joint event in St Brigid’s NS in Palmerstown. A first event so soon after meeting could have been tricky, but Woody was great, as were our audience, and the wonderful staff of St Brigid’s.

On Friday Woody and I went off to Whitehall for an event with the first years in Margaret Aylward Community College. The girls were great, insisting that Woody draw my hero, Marcus, with purple hair and Converse runners.

CBI have a great report of that event here:

http://www.childrensbooksireland.ie/blog/bring-on-the-fun/

And thanks to Zoe for the great pictures.