It has been so long since I blogged. No excuses available.
But in the meantime I was delighted to be part of two short story collections - Magic! which was edited by Siobhan Parkinson, beautifully illustrated by Olwyn Whelan and published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books. My story is called Finbar the Furious: The Ogre who could do no Wrong. I loved writing it and being part of this collection. Thank you Siobhan!
The second collection is Once Upon a Place, a Laureate na nÓg and the brainchild of Eoin Colfer. This was published by Little Island and wondrously illustrated by PJ Lynch. My story in the collection is called Beautiful Dawn. Again, I felt privileged to be a part of this book. Thank you Eoin!
Since then I have been working on another book for children, this time, unlike The Butterfly Heart and The Sleeping Baobab Tree which were both set in Zambia, it is set in Ireland. More specifically set in Kilkenny where I now live. I have for many years resisted writing books set in Ireland as I still feel something of a stranger to the country. However I have now lived here for thirteen years and am starting to get used to it... So, I thought I would give it a try. I am hopeful it will come out in the early part of next year. Not going to talk about it much till it becomes a reality - but a couple of the characters in it somewhat resemble creatures like this one below..
So .. now back to other writing. Firstly to a work in progress - this time for adults and co-written with my partner Tom O'Neill. We are almost there with this one. (Tom, by the by, has a book that has been accepted for publication by Dalkey Archive Press - very, very exciting!)
Then on to another work in progress - also for adults - that might take longer... not as much progress as I would like with this one. But a start made.. and a start is better than a non start..
So, there we go.