Little Island - Latest News

Eason competition winners announced

Congratulations to the ten winners of our competition in conjunction with Easons, each of whom will receive a set of six Little Island books.

Grace Dolan, Dublin
Oonagh Cunningham, Cork
Dibs Teegan, Cork
Mary McGough, Cork
Avril French, Cork
Marion Bruton, Westmeath
Mary Horgan, Cork
Tracey Moloney, Limerick
Jayne Keohane, Cork
Catherine Crowley, Cork

Congratulations Siobhán Parkinson: Ireland's first Laureate na nÓg

Little Island is excited, delighted and very proud to announce that publisher Siobhán Parkinson has been awarded the honour of being Ireland's inaugural Laureate na nÓg, the Laureate for children's literature. She recieved her Laureate na nÓg medal from President Mary McAleese at a special ceremony yesterday. It will be the Laureate's responsibility over the next two years to champion children's literature both in Ireland and abroad, to raise the profile of Irish children's literature and to increase media attention and conversation around children's books. Siobhán was chosen as the most suitable candidate on the strength of her contribution to Irish children's books, her eagerness and enthusiasm for the sector and her willingness to engage with children and the media.

Laureate na nÓg is a new initiative of the Arts Council with the support of the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Children’s Books Ireland and Poetry Ireland. For more information and news updates, visit childrenslaureate.ie and to see a video of Siobhán Parkinson speaking about her appointment, click here.

GUEST BLOG: Michelle Anderson on designing a book cover

A number of months ago Elaina from Little Island came in to our college to tell us about a competition they were running with Jean Flitcroft, author of The Cryptid Files: Loch Ness. It was to design the cover for the book.

Elaina handed out a piece from the book for us to read. I have always loved reading for as long as I can remember. The Cryptid Files: Loch Ness reminded me of the kind of books I had always loved as a child; its story presenting a mystery to the reader, blending reality with the supernatural leaving us to wonder if the story is entirely fictional. This inspired me to create a cover that would have captured my attention when I was a young reader.

When reading the piece from The Cryptid Files: Loch Ness given to us, the mysterious glowing green and the magical world underwater where Nessie lives and allows Vanessa to enter set my imagination alight.  I thought of the wonder and amazement Vanessa must feel when she first sees Nessie, and the suspense she and the reader would feel as to what would happen next. For me personally this was a very significant moment in the story, I imagined what Vanessa would feel at this moment and imagined the monster reflected in her eye.

Using the camera and a mirror, I took a number of photos of my eye while picturing the surprise and wonder Vanessa must have felt. It was a way to give a glimpse the monster and at the same time the surprise and disbelief she must have felt. A wonderful thing about the book is you relate to the character and when I look at the book cover now I don’t see my own eye but Vanessa’s eye.

Seeing a piece of my work on shelves in bookstores for the first time has been very exciting. Winning the competition has given me a wonderful opportunity and the response to the cover has been brilliant.

Michelle Anderson is a final year visual communication and design student at Dublin Institute of Technology. Her design was chosen from a large number of submissions as the winner of The Cryptid Files design competition.

illustrativedesigns [dot] michelle [at] gmail [dot] com

Photograph © Hazel Coonagh hazelcoonaghphotography [at] gmail [dot] com

Little Island launch

Well, Little Island is officially launched, and if you don't believe us, you can read about it here, and about us here and here.

We'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone who gave us support - financial or otherwise - attended, emailed us lovely things, wrote and tweeted about us, sent us flowers and made cake for us - we couldn't have done it without you!

And, as a treat, our guest twin bloggers will be making a one-off appearance to tell you all about the launch itself - watch this space!

For now, a few photos of the night courtesy of Vicky Garnett:

A team of authors and young readers. Authors, L-R: Jean Flitcroft, Maeve Friel, Siobhán Parkinson (publisher and translator), Renate Ahrens, Tom O'Neill, Mark O'Sullivan.

Young readers: Abbie (dressed as Princess Chrstine-Egypta from The Lantern Moon), Donal (dressed as Sam Price from The Lantern Moon), Nicola, Nuala, Fionn, Anna, Amy, Christie and Olivia.

Orlaith McBride of NAYD and the Arts Council, Siobhán         Author Jean Flitcroft with Michelle Anderson,

Parkinson, Publisher of Little Island and Edwin Higel,             designer of the cover for The Crypid Files: Loch Ness

Publisher of New Island.