(Apologies to anyone who clicked into the post I made a few days ago and then found nothing. I felt weird posting small excerpts of writing in this blog, so I deleted it soon after hitting ‘post’. It won’t be happening again, sorry!)
It’s been a while since I’ve updated, which is mostly because I’ve been buried away writing, and I’ve been trying to make as much progress as I can. I have some book recommendation posts in the pipe line, in particular a post about the best YA LGBT books I’ve read as June is Pride Month.
(I was thinking about writing a post about why the werewolves wasn’t specifically written with lesbian characters in mind–it was more a case of reaching Chapter Three and realising my MC liked her best friend–but it also feels weird to talk about a book I’m querying. Hmm. Thoughts?)
But for this post, I’m going to talk about some Irish publishing and children’s books related things. In mid-May, I was lucky enough to attend the first half of the annual CBI conference (Children’s Books Ireland). It was great to be there, surrounded by people so passionate about children’s books, and I got to chat with some lovely people.
Highlights included Marcus Sedgwick, before whom I embarrassed myself terribly while he was signing books, and Elena Odriozola, a Spanish illustrator whose talk was fascinating. There was also a very inspiring speech from Siobhán Parkinson, the inaugural Irish Children’s Laureate, about the importance of libraries for children and reading. I was unable to make the second half the following day, but I already can’t wait for next year.
Another piece of news is that Derek Landy, author of the stupendous Skulduggery Pleasant (known as Scepter of the Ancients in the US) won the Irish Book of the Decade award, beating stiff competition from the likes of John Banville and Sebastian Barry. Yup, a children’s book won from a shortlist of primarily adult books (there were a few other children’s writers like John Boyne and Eoin Colfer). The award was done through public vote, and it was wonderful to see such an amazing–and popular– book win.
And now I go back to writing. Book recommendation posts coming soon!
Helen Corcoran 
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Hey, another Irish YA writer 🙂 I knew there were others out there somewhere! (I found your blog through Absolute Write, in case you were wondering.)
I have Skullduggery Pleasant sitting on my windowsill – I bought it in Chapters over a year ago and have yet to even start it. I guess now that it’s won an Important Award I should have a look?
Thank you for commenting, Sean! Have you joined the Irish Writers social group on AW? There are a few of us grouped together there, as small as our numbers may be. 😀
Hee, I would read it more on its own merits than because it won an award. It’s a smart, funny book; I wish I could write humour like Landy. Plus it has a floppy-hat-wearing-magician-now-skeleton and a sensible, ass-kicking female protagonist–what more could you want? 😉
(I buy books all the time and often don’t start them until months later. So many books, too little time!)