Launching Keepsake

This week sees the launch of my new book Keepsake, published by the lovely Little Island crew!.  It will be launched in Stonehouse Books, courtesy of bookseller extraordinaire Liz Walsh, on Thursday 25th May at 7.00 pm. It is hard to describe your own book (at least I think it is), but I will try.

It is a tale set in Ireland (in a fictional town called Carrigcapall) and concerns a boy and his horse and a girl and her granny. There are other characters (both human and four legged) who wander in and out of the story - but these four matter most. Three of the characters love horses and that's a pretty lucky turn of events for Storm, the horse, whose life is in danger.

As I work from character maybe I will leave the description at that for the meantime. Mary Esther Judy, children's bookseller at Charlie Byrnes Bookshop in Galway, was the first person to review the book in her brilliant blog Fallen Star Stories  and you can find it here.

I have been lucky enough to have a primary school down the road from me reading the book pre publication - St John's Senior in Kilkenny. They selected the book as their One School, One Book project and have been doing mighty work on it for the past few weeks. One of the teachers at the school, the inimitable Orla Mackey, prepared a Keepsake workbook for the students with all sorts of wondrous and creative ideas in it. These notes will be available on the Little Island website as well as on Seomra Ranga, and I will put up a link to both on my own website.

Here is some of their work!

Prejudice and Selective Outrage

Lots of definitions of prejudice around, but a look at the origin of the word provides the simplest explanation: praeiudicium (Latin) meaning prior judgement. Not one of us is without prejudice: we make prior judgements every day based on our experiences. We cannot see everything afresh every time.  When we are prejudiced about which apples we prefer, how we like our tea, which is the simplest way to get to work or which well is likely to contain water, that's just us using our life experiences to make decisions. It's pretty normal. 

A broader definition, in the Cambridge Dictionary, defines prejudice as follows: an unfair and unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge.   And that definition gets to the heart of what I actually want to talk about.

 Having spent a large portion of my adult life in South Africa under Apartheid I am no stranger to unreasonable opinions or feelings.

 I am no stranger to casual racism.

 I am no stranger to hearing sentences which begin with 'They are all' or 'All - insert racist epithet - are lazy or dishonest or stupid or greedy ... or similar'.

 I am no stranger to people who assume you share their views without bothering to ask you first.

 I am no stranger to the violence, the hatred and the grotesque oppression that has been the consequence of prior judgement and naked racism. The consequence of a mentality which puts us and them into separate but not equal categories.

I am no stranger to lazy thinking. And lazy talk. And self righteous anger.

I am no stranger to hypocrisy.

 Which brings me to prejudice against travellers in Ireland.  As far as I can see, as a blow-in to Ireland (a country I have grown to love, I feel privileged to be living here), this is a form of prejudice which somehow has gained respectability. I do not speak here of everyone in Ireland, we are not all the one. I know many settled people who would not share these views.

 I do however speak of those wh0 have this prejudice and somehow manage to insert it into everyday conversation in a way they would not were the people they were speaking of a different colour to them or of a different sexual persuasion.

 This has come to the fore recently in Kilkenny, the city I have made my home, as a consequence of a number of high profile cases of abused animals which has led to an outpouring of hatred directed towards all travellers. I have read comments online calling travellers ‘the scum of the earth’. I have read comments stating that they should all be shot. Other comments suggesting that all travellers should be drowned at birth; that they should not be allowed children let alone animals. These comments sicken me. Adults sitting at home typing these words into their gadgets, with no thought whatsoever about the people they direct their loathing towards.

I would like them to emerge from the safety of their little online world and come and say these things to the families they do not know. I was talking to a woman this week, a mother holding the hand of her toddler, who said to me had I seen that some woman was saying on Facebook that she should not be allowed to have children. And worse, that the children should be drowned at birth. She also said to me, nothing's new Paula, it's the way it is. I wonder what the person who wrote those words would say if she were to meet this mother, or her husband or her children; children who go to school in the city knowing that the parents of their classmates think this way?

 Prejudice takes hold when it is not gainsayed. When it is not refuted. When it is not rejected. That’s all I’m doing here. Gainsaying it. Nothing makes it right.

 I am not saying, in any which way, that any one group of people has right on their side - we are all humans and (apologies to Life of Brian) we are all individuals. We need to be judged as such - according to our actions. It is how most judicial systems work  (however flawed) - someone commits a crime, sometimes they are caught, sometimes they are tried and sometimes they are convicted. On the basis of their actions.  However the passing of judgement against entire communities brings to mind recent history - in Europe, in Africa, in America, in Australia. History we would surely prefer not to be repeated?

 And as to the question of the abuse of animals – which led to a protest last week. Anyone who knows me would know I am against the abuse of animals. In all cases. Against  the way in which animals are factory farmed to be eaten; in the way in which greyhounds and thoroughbreds are used till they are 'no use'; in the way in which chickens are farmed; pigs are farmed; puppies are farmed to provide Christmas presents; lambs are slaughtered; mares are kept pregnant (and stationary) to provide women with hormones to keep them young; in the way the slaughter houses work; in the way in which circus animals are trained; lobsters are boiled alive; in the way in which we in Ireland export hundreds of thousands of live animals to be killed elsewhere; in the ways that animals are tested so that the makeup people use doesn't hurt their eyes. So many ways, the list has scarcely begun.

There is a lot to be protesting about in relation to cruelty to animals – not one iota of doubt about that. But the recent protests did bring me to a phrase I heard this week (in reference to another protest) – beware selective outrage. We can all learn from that.

New Book! Keepsake

I must try and speed up my writing output - but that is for another day! In the meantime I have a new book coming out with Little Island. It is called Keepsake. The cover (which cannot be revealed just yet) was designed by the brilliant Olivia Golden, and it is beautiful - all I could have wished for. I have been involved with Little Island since their inception but this is the first time I have worked on a book with them. It  was and is a delight to work with Siobhan Parkinson and Gráinne Clear (all those fadas..) a formidable team. Hard when you are close to a book to know how it will be received - but having read it after many months, I like it. It was a scary book for me to write because for the first time I am writing a full length novel for children set in Ireland. I am a blow-in of the first order and have always felt unwilling to write a book set here as it was not as familiar to me as, e.g. South Africa or Zambia. But I have been here for fourteen years now, so I thought I would give it a try. I enjoyed writing it and hope that shows.

As much as I can probably say about it at the moment is that it is an adventure story and there are horses, people  and dogs in it along with just little bit of magic to send it on its way. Orla Mackey has written some mighty Teaching Notes for it, as always, and those will be available online when the book is out.

In  place of the cover.... courtesy of Orla Mackey

Grattan and Me

Just over a week ago Grattan and Me by Tom O'Neill was published and launched by Dalkey Archive Press.  OK, so Tom O'Neill, besides being an author and a million other things, seemingly all at the same time, is my husband. I could be accused of bias. But, bias or not, this is a brilliant book. Tom has written for a long time, he is one of those writers who needs to write. He needs no deadlines, no commissions, no encouragement. He just gets up in the mornings and writes before he starts the rest of his day. Grattan and Me, the book that followed his previous books for young adults, is a hard one to describe in short form - luckily, Rob Doyle found the words and described it 'freewheeling, jokey, metafictional romp that fizzes with imagination at play,'and it would be hard to beat that. So I won't try. But (and here comes the shameless promotion bit) it is available in all good bookshops (!) and online.

Tom was given a spot in the Irish Times to talk about the book and where it came from. That article can be found here.

Writing and more writing

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.

Once Upon a Place

In June this year Eoin Colfer, our brilliant Children's Laureate, visited the St Catherine's (aka Wetlands) halting site homework club in Kilkenny. He had put out a call at the start of his Laureateship asking people to send in requests for places to visit on a proposed storytelling tour. I sent one in asking him to come to Wetlands and, happily, he agreed.

The age range of the children he told stories to was quite wide but he kept them perfectly enthralled. The week after his visit one of the Homework Club workers asked young Rocky whether he could tell him the story that Eoin had told them. He recounted it back to him almost word perfect. It was that kind of story.

Peter Salisbury was down with his camera, Nessa Mahoney organised everything in her inimitable style (!) and Eoin's friend Chris was there recording the event for a podcast. In addition Irish Traveller TV sent a camerawoman there to record the event. An interesting outfit, a volunteer based production and website group dedicated to improving the image of Travellers and Gipsies in Ireland today. Their website is here.

I sat and watched and wondered at the ability Eoin has to tell an engrossing story about something small and everyday. All the elements were there - plot, tension, characters, mighty dialogue, humour (and more humour) and, of course, the essential nappy and a few embellishments. The images he created in the story are as clear in my mind today as they were the day he told them. And the same goes for the children. That's a gift.

I volunteer at the homework club once a week and have learnt a lot from being there. Great work being done by the full time staff who run it and by the children themselves. St. Catherine's Halting Site has been a temporary halting site for thirty years. This year houses are being built there. The Father McGrath centre produced a report on the living conditions at the site from a Children's Rights Perspective.  It can be viewed here

This post is really just by way of thank you to Eoin, to Nessa, to Peter, Chris and CBI who all made the visit possible. To the community at Wetlands who welcomed them with open arms. To Micky, Emmet, Rocky  and Claire who run the Homework Club and do such fantastic work there. And especially to the children who listened to the story and told Eoin some stories of their own!

'I'll keep this to show my children'

During the past months I have been working with a variety of schools - some of them as part of the Development Education Programme which is a joint initiative of Poetry Ireland and World Wise Global Schools, some with Writers in Schools (also Poetry Ireland!) and some directly with the schools as part of their JCSP programme. This year I spent time in Bridgetown, Limerick, Kilkenny and Rathkeale. Each school different to the other but all interesting! I will in time write about each of these individually, but in the meantime wanted to post the pictures of their work.

One of the things I have been doing in each school is gathering the pieces of writing the students have completed into booklets - for the students themselves, their parents and the teachers. In Limerick the students sold the booklets as part of an effort to raise funds for the victims of the Nepal earthquakes.  The booklet we worked on in Rathkeale will be worked on at the start of next year and will hopefully be out in December.

Part of the reason I do this is that is something solid for the students to hold onto at the end of a six week author in residence session. Something that they can take home and show their family, something they can show their friends. I think this creates additional value. In one of the groups a student said to me she was going to keep the booklet to show her children. I was delighted by that thought!

In Kilkenny we have held launches for the booklets with the wonderful Stonehouse Books, and last week we launched the booklet First Words written by some First and Second Years.

Launch at Stonehouse Books, May 2015

I think this is something I will carry on doing as part of any future author in residence sessions I  do. It gives the students a goal to work towards and a sense of satisfaction at the end of it all and it gives me all that and more!

Small and Free

I'm working with three very different secondary schools at the moment (just started!) and really enjoying it. One in Rathkeale, one in Limerick and one in Bridgetown, Wexford. As I said to one of the teachers, this gives me an opportunity to go back to teaching (which I used to do, way back when, and loved) but I get to do all the good bits and have none of the accompanying heartache of the administration, reports, more administration and reports... Thank you Poetry Ireland for these opportunities! It also makes you think (as it should) about the way we pass on skills, the way we pass on the elements of the craft of writing. When I first looked at exploring fictional writing I attended a course given by Siobhan Parkinson, in the Smurfit Business School, called Write That Novel. I had searched through loads of different courses for one that would deal with the different aspects of writing that I felt I needed to look at: creating characters, writing dialogue, narrative voice, point of view, plotting, setting, genre, structure, editing and the rest ! When I saw the course outline of Siobhan's course I had no hesitation in applying for it. And it was all that I could have wanted and more.

I was not looking for a course that wanted me to explore my inner self, get in touch with my feelings, write stream of consciousness things .. I wanted to understand the craft. And while I cannot claim to understand it fully yet, I have the framework and that is what I was looking for. Uber thanks to Siobhan!

The rest was of course up to the individuals in the course. It was up to us to practice, to write and then to write some more.  And to discover whether writing was something we could do. That is not of course a given. In the same way as we would not all become artists if we were given the techniques of painting, drawing, sculpture, etching or anything else. I certainly wouldn't.

Another thing I have to be grateful to that course for is the fact that our writing group, The Crabapples, emerged from that course. Eleven years later we are still meeting!

In working with Secondary school students what I love to see are the gems that emerge. The small beautiful pearls of writing that are as individual as the students themselves. Made even more beautiful when they come from the pens of young people who felt they could not write. Did not like to write. That's the reward for me. With permission I hope to post some of their work once completed but will leave you with one line that has stuck in my head. One group in Limerick were working on poems on the issue of child marriage and in one of the poems this line emerged: I wanted to be small and free.

Simple words, beautifully put.

As yet I have no pictures of the schools so, apropos of nothing (and because I do not like posts without images), here is a picture of Old Greg .. a dog who found his way to our farm, terrified, thin and not well - and just look at him now. We are glad to have him.

Art and other things

Over the past couple of months a friend of ours, Tommy Cuddihy, was laid up after a foot operation. While this must have been extremely frustrating for him, the result of it (in non medical terms) was brilliant. He produced a picture combining elements of both The Butterfly Heart and The Sleeping Baobab Tree. I still do not know how he did it as it contains pressed metal and beautiful colours, but I do not really need to know because I love the result!

That is such a brilliant Baobab tree .. and as for Ifwafwa on his bicycle, the detail of the small bits of orange plastic on the wheel spokes,  and Nokokulu's yellow car - just astonishing.

So, a huge thank you to Tommy for this - a real work of art. And it got me back to my blog which has been sorely neglected for the past while. So a double thank you.

Libraries in County Clare

Last week I spent a couple of days in Clare - visited Scarriff, Killaloe, Ennis and Shannon. This time of year always reminds me of the work being done in the libraries in Ireland - and always reinvigorates my hope that we do not go the way of Britain where public libraries are being closed. Hundreds closed so far I think. In the North as far as I know, one has already been closed and ten are under threat (See http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/closures-map/). What always strikes me in the libraries is the variety of things that happen under their roofs! Storytelling, PC training, book clubs meeting, Leaving Cert and Junior Cert studying, Summer reading challenges, drama workshops, film clubs, creative writing workshops and more!

I took a look at some of the summer activities for children in the Clare libraries, outside of the reading challenge, and they included a Sculpture Trail, a visit to the Ennis Old Friary, Story Time, crafts, jewellery making and  visit to the museum. And all free. All a public service. So ... long live the libraries of Ireland and their energetic librarians !

The classes I met, from national schools and secondary schools, were great. In Ennis I had fifty girls from the secondary schools and we did some work together on the issue of child marriage. In a very short space of time they produced some beautiful poems written in the voice of a young girl who had been told she was to be married. Really excellent and empathetic writing, I am hoping they will send me copies so I can put them up on the site.

Off to Wexford and Carlow this week, then Cork next week!

Children's Book Festival

October here again, Children's Book Festival - it's a lovely month for children's writers, booksellers, libraries, schools and children all over Ireland. I am someone who finds it hard to switch my brain off from what is happening in the world - I never understand how it is possible for anyone to switch off. Sometimes it overwhelms. Cruelty, bigotry, prejudice, hatred, intolerance, brutality, murder and mayhem. Yup, we have it all. And I am lucky that it just overwhelms me - I do not live it or die because of it.

And what on earth does that have to do with Children's Book Festival. Well ... partly because it helps me to look on the bright side of life - because what I and many other children's authors get to do is to travel to different parts of Ireland and talk to children. Children full of questions, children from all over the world who have through different circumstances ended up here (as have I), children who are only starting out on life. Children whose minds are mostly still open, unshuttered.

And in between them librarians and the wonderful CBI staff who all work so damn hard to make this happen.

This month I'm going to Cork, Clare, Wexford and Carlow and in November to Kildare. And I'm really looking forward to it. Writers and entertainers are not always one and the same thing - writing stories and storytelling do not always go hand in hand. And we all do things differently - I have watched other children's writers present their work to children and have thought, 'nope, I could never do that' But that doesn't matter because I do something else. Part of what I hope to do, as it is where I have lived for most of my life so far, is to bring them to the doorstep of Africa. A vast, beautiful continent that is 'somewhere else' in their lives. To show them what is different and what is the same. To slough off some of the preconceptions. Big aim but if I only achieve ten percent of it I'm happy.

Some snakes made by a class in the wonderful St Johns school when they were reading my first book, The Butterfly Heart

And a baobab tree just because it's my favourite tree .. and that sky!

Hay Festival Kells

I feel very privileged that this year I was invited to participate in the Hay Festival in Kells. I am not usually nervous about the 'performance' side of writing - schools, writing workshops, festivals etc. - but for some reason I was nervous about this one.

Turned out there was no need. The Hay Festival staff and volunteers in Kells were, one and all, wonderful. So welcoming, helpful and efficient. They made it all feel so easy. And the white rose at the end of each session was a lovely touch.

I enjoyed the two different sessions I ran - one which was storytelling and reading and the other which was a writing workshop. The workshop was challenging as I had all ages there - an age range I think of about seventy years. But I think it all worked. In the space of an hour there is really not a whole lot you can teach anyone about writing - as I said to the organisers the most I could aim to do was to fan a small breeze across a writing spark that was already there in every one of the people who attended. I hope I managed to do that.

The town had a lovely feel to it over the festival - a strong sense of involvement from everyone living there. The people who took writers and performers to their sessions were all volunteers from the community, and many of them doubled up as informal tour guides to the town. Mine did anyway! Shop windows were full of books and posters, the pharmacy proclaiming that there was 'No Hay Fever in our Hay Festival', Granny Lil's Sweetshop offering free Cross Stitch Lessons, the opticians with books by Seamus Heaney and Dervla Murphy in the window and much much more.

So, thank you the Hay Festival, thank you to Kells and thank you to those who came to my sessions - I loved meeting you.

For Telling us how to Milk a Snake

On the day of the CBI Awards Ceremony I received this email from Ms. Mackey's wonderful class in St. John's  School in Kilkenny. My own children went to this school and I hold it dear to my heart. I got the email while I was waiting, with trepidation, for the awards ceremony to begin. What more did I need than these 29 awards!? And then on top of this to get the Special Judges Award, my day was made.

Dear Paula,

CONGRATULATIONS!  You are the winner of 29 AWARDS.  Ms Mackey's Class would like to award you for the following reasons ...  

Title of Award:  For Writing the Most Adventurous Stories

Presented by:  Nicholas Mullins

Title of Award:  For Being an Amazing Author and a Great Person in General

Presented by:  Louise Dullard

Title of Award:  For Writing Two Fantastic Novels and For Playing Games With Us

Presented by:  Tamas Sebok

Title of Award:  For Putting Us on the Edge of Our Seats

Presented by:  Leah Anderson

Title of Award:  For Writing the Best Children's Books

Presented by:  Jamie Doran

Title of Award:  For Writing Books That Fill Children's Hearts with Wonder and Joy

Presented by:  Laura Ryan

Title of Award:  For Giving Us Stories That Come To Life

Presented by:  Mark McBride

Title of Award:  For Writing Unusual and Funny Books

Presented by:  Courtney O'Dwyer

Title of Award:  For Writing My Two Favourite Books Ever

Presented by:  Nicole O'Leary

Title of Award:  For Writing Such Amazing Novels and Giving Us Such Enjoyment

Presented by:  Josh Curran

Title of Award:  For Writing My Favourite Books

Presented by:  Candice Keating

Title of Award:  For Being a Truly Magnificent Writer

Presented by:  Ayianna Piggott

Title of Award:  For Writing The Best Books in The Entire Galaxy

Presented by:  Marata Evelyn Sida

Title of Award:  For Being the Best Author in The World

Presented by:  Ryan Walsh

Title of Award:  For Being The Best Author and for Making us Feel Happy

Presented by:  Jordan Wall

Title of Award:  For Having a Great Imagination

Presented by:  Alex Molloy

Title of Award:  For Having the Best Books in the World

Presented by:  Anthony Walsh

Title of Award:  For Giving Away the Most Chocolates and Sweets 

Presented by:  Tom Byrne

Title of Award:  For Writing Books that Our Class LOVE

Presented by:  Amy Hennessy

Title of Award:  For Coming into Our Class and Telling Us Amazing Stories

Presented by:  Sinead Hayes

Title of Award:  For Telling Us How to Milk a Snake

Presented by:  Niamh Hayes

Title of Award:  For Making Children Laugh

Presented by:  Orla Doheny

Title of Award:  For A Great Imagination and for Writing Fascinating Stories

Presented by:  Ioana Burghelea

Title of Award:  For Being My Favourite Female Author

Presented by:  Chelsea Comerford

Title of Award:  For Taking the Time to Come and Visit Us

Presented by:  Naoise Ryan

Title of Award:  For Making us Feel So Excited and Happy When You watched Our Plays Based on The Sleeping Baobab Tree

Presented by:  Stephen Power

Title of Award:  For Being Someone We Can Look Up To and Admire

Presented by:  Jack Brennan

Title of Award:  For Giving Us Chocolate 

Presented by:  Daniel Valadkevich

Title of Award:  For the Best Writer in The World

Presented by:  David Kulaga

No one else has ever won these awards. That's how special we think you are.  You have made a huge difference to our lives.  We have not met many authors.  You are the one that stands out to us.  We will remember you even when we are as old as Nokokulu.   We love that you always listen to us and take our questions seriously.  We love the ideas that you have and the way you tell stories to us in your books and when you're in our classroom.  WE LOVE YOU!  

We began this morning by saying a prayer for success.  We would be so happy if The Sleeping Baobab Tree won an award.  Anyway we have decided that it doesn't matter what the fancy judges think, you are definitely the best writer in our opinion.

Best of Luck, Paula.  We have all our fingers and toes crossed for you.  We hope to hear good news soon because we are getting very uncomfortable.  You will always be the best to us.  

Ms Mackey's Class

P.S We hope to see you before school ends so that we can present you with your trophy!!!!!!!

CBI Special Judges Award 2014

Perfectly delighted to have been awarded the Special Judges Award in the CBI Book of the Year awards. A big thank you to CBI, to everyone I know and love and congratulations to all of those on the shortlist and to Marie Louise Fitzpatrick for her overall Book of the Year award. What the judges said about The Sleeping Baobab Tree :

• Special Judges’ Award: Paula Leyden for The Sleeping Baobab Tree. The judges said, ‘Combining robust character development with vivid descriptions of the Zambian landscape, Leyden skilfully creates an evocative and atmospheric narrative that explores themes of friendship, family and human rights.’

Happy Days

Yesterday was a happy writing day. Robert Dunbar in the Irish Times had this to say about the Sleeping Baobab Tree ...

Finally, with Paula Leyden’s The Sleeping Baobab Tree , we travel to Zambia for a mind-opening novel featuring twin sisters, the boy next door and his formidable greatgrandmother: a car journey involving all four provides a wonderfully sustained piece of comic writing in a novel that nevertheless engages with serious contemporary themes.

But as for the “best”? My Honour Award for fiction would go to the Paula Leyden title, which, as some duplication is allowed, would also carry off the book-of-the-year award. 

Now. I know this is one person's opinion - and as I said in a previous post, the shortlist is a strong one and I am a newbie so my expectations are low - but I am thrilled to be on the list and his comments warmed my heart. I especially loved that he was amused by the book ..Thank you Robert!

Then, a review of Tom O'Neill's book (Tom is my partner) Fionn and the Legends of the Blood Emeralds by Mary Esther Judy of Fallen Star Stories

FIONN AND THE LEGEND OF THE BLOOD EMERALDS
author: Tom O'Neill
HeroicRealm.com (2013)
ISBN: 9781909483279
Dark McLeans' Uncle Connie has been struck down by a mysterious illness: an illness of alarmingly rapid progress with no obvious cause or treatment; an illness that is killing him. Dark is now in a race against time to find a cure. Their sinister neighbour is shadowing Darks' every move, his friends are abandoning him and Dark is losing hope and courage. Each night, Dark ventures into a nearby fairy ring in desperation. Perhaps the Old People know of a cure. Each night, Dark is told a tale..... a tale of a young man called Matha who, long ago, was on a similar quest to his own; a tale of Fionn MacCumhaill and ancient journeys, of bards and battles and a magical land. As time is running out for Uncle Connie, Dark begins to understand the true meaning behind his uncles' words: "They walk among us."
Tom O'Neills' previous book, "Old Friends: The Lost Tales of Fionn MacCumhaill" was thoroughly gripping. 

This one is even more. This one is simply spell-binding, packed with lyrical story-telling, raw and complex emotional impact and evocative characters and setting. The flow of the contemporary story into the mythical is smooth, and the correlations drawn between the two stories create an ebb and flow that pulls the reader into the tale. Each chapter is genuine, believable and intriguing. The power behind the words is tangible and will keep you awake well into the night reading on.... and casting your vision out into the night wondering what is actually going on out there in the trees and hills. A wondrous adventure that blurs the lines between reality and mythology. Just loved it!

Welcome in our class, our school and our universe

This warmed my heart today - the plays referred to in the letter are plays the class (a combined 4th and 5th Class) put on, each group taking a different section of the book. They were absolutely brilliant.

Dear Paula,

We FINISHED reading 'The Sleeping Baobab Tree' today.  In the words of Leah Anderson (5th Class) we have mixed emotions.  Every school day is going to be different from now on.  Reading 'The Sleeping Baobab Tree' was our favourite part of the day (we had a vote and it was unanimous!).  We are sorry that that has come to an end.  We are happy that all of the characters are safe at the end of the book.  We had ANOTHER vote and it was decided that Nokokulu is our favourite character.  We were surprised by how kind she actually is.  Naoise (4th class) thought that it would have been a good idea to include a chapter from THE MAN BEAST'S point of view.  We laughed out loud at lots of things especially things that Fred imagined and things that Nokokulu did.  We were all afraid at different points during the story.  We begged Ms Mackey to read extra chapters every day.  Sometimes she would and sometimes she wouldn't....GRRRRRRRRR!

Thank you very much for coming to see our plays.  We hope you liked them.  We liked having you here and we liked the Maltesers!  We will always remember the special time we had reading your stories.  We wish that you had another book ready for us to read straight away.  Ms Mackey read us the story of Scabby and we loved it.

You are always welcome in our class, our school and our universe (Chelsea),

Ms Mackey's 4th/5th Class

CBI Awards Shortlist 2014

A delayed post ... I had written this a week ago when they were announced but it ended up in drafts! So, here goes. I was thrilled to hear that my second book, The Sleeping Baobab Tree is on the 2014 shortlist for the CBI Awards.

.. So a big thank you to the judges for considering my book worthy of the honour. I am one of eight authors on the list and here's what CBI said about it all ...

Shortlist 2014

Eight Titles will compete for the 24th CBI Book of the Years Awards 2014, the most prestigious awards for children’s books.

The shortlist for the 24th CBI Book of the Year Awards was revealed today, Tuesday March 18th 2014. Each of the eight titles will compete for the high caliber awards, which includes the innovative ‘Children’s Choice Award’ voted for by young readers located across the country. The winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held on May 13th.

The shortlisted titles are:

The Sleeping Baobab Tree by Paula Leyden

Warp The Reluctant Assassin by Eoin Colfer

Heart Shaped by Siobhán Parkinson

Hagwitch by Marie- Louise Fitzpatrick

Too Many Ponies by Sheena Wilkinson

Skulduggery Pleasant Last Stand of Dead Men by Derek Landy

Mysterious Traveller illustrated by P.J. Lynch

The Day the Crayons Quit illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

Founded in 1990, The CBI Book of the Year Awards are the leading children’s book awards in Ireland. They are a celebration of excellence in children’s literature and illustration and are open to picture books and novels written in English or Irish by authors and illustrators born or resident in Ireland and published between 1st January and 31st December each year.

Pádraic Whyte, chair of the judging panel that almost 70 titles, said: “The books on this year’s shortlist offer children and young people from a broad age group rich and satisfying reading experiences. Many of the books engage with difficult contemporary or global issues while others are stories of whimsy and fun. This is a wonderfully diverse shortlist that highlights the literary and artistic excellence of current Irish Children’s Literature.”

Hello Nelson. Cool shirt!

Yesterday on World Book Day while I was in Galway in Dubray Books I did a small exercise with one of the groups, they were from Scoil Ida. It was on the subject of Mandela. I was delighted to hear that they knew so much about him and so obviously admired him. Fair play to the teachers concerned!

I thought I would write down some of the things they wrote, which were things they would like to say to him if he had visited Galway and then paid a surprise visit to their school. Some great conversations would have been had.

So, here goes:

'Hello Sir, My name is Loretta Ojo. How are you? Were you able to cooperate with life when you were younger? It is very stunning to meet you as you are a true leader of Africa.'

Anon. 'What was it like to take a stand? You took a stand and you were knocked down but you got back up. The world looks up to you as you achieved your dream. How does that feel?'

'Was life hard for you when you were young? Was it tough?'

'Hello Nelson. Cool shirt! I'm Karolina - why did you come all the way here?'

(I gave them this picture of him - hence the cool shirt!)

'You are an inspiration to our world. You have stood up for yourself and others using peace. You are strong at heart and I'm stunned that I would actually meet the world's best leader'

'How did you feel when you were put in jail?'

'Hello my name is Lucja and I think you are an amazing, inspiring person and a role model. You didn't deserve to be locked up for  27 years. You deserve all the best things in the world and all the people will forever be in debt to you. I can't believe I can actually meet you!'

'Hello I'm Ania. Did you choose to free the people? Do you think that someone else could have done it? Why did the white people treat the black people so badly?'

'Hello my name is Aoife Campbell. I'm very happy to meet you. I think you are the most brave, kind and clever person in the world. You have done great work for your country. You are an inspiration to me. Thank you for meeting me, you are my hero.'

'Hi, are you having a good day? You look very nice today.'

'What is your favourite season?'

'Hi, you are a really good person, kind and gentle and by the way, can I have your autograph? It was nice to meet you.'

'How are you so brave and confident? Wow! You are my inspiration, how do you stand up for yourself? I can't believe I got to meet you.'

'This is such an honour. I think you are so amazing. Were you not scared?'

'Hi. I'm so glad to meet you. You are so caring and generous. I wish I and other people could be like you.'

'Hello. How do you think life should be? Why did you want to be President and was it easy?'

Nelson: Hello and how are you?  Me: My name is Shauna.  Nelson: Well, nice to meet you. Me: When you were in school what did you learn?'

'Wow! OMG! How much time do I have? You're so cool. How are you so brave?'

'I can't believe I'm actually meeting you. My name is Emily, I'm eleven years old and I love art and reading.'

'What is it like to be you? Do you love what you do?Why did you come here? Thank you for listening to me, you are a brave man.'

'Did you get any food or drink in jail?'

'Hello Nelson Mandela. My name is Evelyn Byrne. I think everything you said was correct and that everyone should have equal rights and not to judge others and we must live life to the fullest. Your words have changed the world and have made people think about things that were wrong.'

'You gave light when the rest of the world was dark, you gave faith when the rest of the world gave up, you gave peace when the rest of the world was at war.'

'Hello my name is Grainne and you are my hero.'

'Hello my name is Divine and it is an honour to meet you. I wrote you a poem but sorry I didn't finish it.'

Crawling with ghosts

This post  could not, in all honesty, be called a written post. No writing needed. What follows is a series of pictures drawn by Ms Mackey's 4th and 5th Class in St. John's Kilkenny. They have done such great work on both The Butterfly Heart and The Sleeping Baobab Tree that I wanted to post some of it on here. These pictures are based on lines that they liked from the The Sleeping Baobab Tree. Brilliant work! Lovely class! Great teacher!

The Squonk, (in)humanity and luck

I do not usually write personal posts, but a question put to me yesterday by one of my daughters made me think about this. So, here we go. She asked me, 'How do you manage to stay cheerful when you look at what is happening in the world?' A good question. Not sure I have a full and proper answer to it but I will try.

I remember at age twenty sitting in a friends basement sobbing my heart out at the state of the world, asking the question 'why do we say 'man's inhumanity to man' when in fact it is us, humans, who are cruel, thoughtless, prejudiced, greedy, violent, murderous, bullying, brutal, selfish ..... so to be all these things is not inhuman, it is human... we should call it man's humanity to man?'

Maybe that is so, but in answer to my daughter's question..

I remain cheerful because that is not the sum of who or what we are.

I remain cheerful because, amazingly, I am an optimist..

I remain cheerful because that is my make up, I feel blessed that my chemistry allows me to feel so!

I remain cheerful because I believe that we can do better.

I remain cheerful because I am able to focus on the small things - sometimes to look upon the whole world in all its misery still overwhelms me, so I focus in and look closely.

I remain cheerful because when I do that I am able to find beauty, kindness, laughter, love and unselfishness alongside all the sadness and madness.

I remain cheerful because I am lucky enough to be part of an extended loving family.

I remain cheerful because despite the multitude of faults in humanity I still find us interesting.

I remain cheerful because when I realised, way back then, that I could not on my own change the world (ah, youth!) I also realised that I could change bits and pieces of it. That small things can make a difference. It is true.

So,  I remain cheerful because in my life, where it has been possible, I have worked to change things that seemed to me to be wrong. Small things, sometimes slightly bigger things. But never enough, absolutely never enough. Alongside this I have also just lived my life, and have been lucky enough to do so - lucky enough to love, to rear my children, to listen to music, to write, to teach, to work, to just live. To do all the things that are denied to so many.

As I write this I know that right now there are people in situations that will prevent them from ever being cheerful; there are people being killed; raped; tortured; starved; abused; bullied. There are animals being slaughtered, confined, tortured, abused and bullied. It is an unequal and unfair world. And yes it still overwhelms me every time I look out on it - but now instead of sobbing I suppose I think, what can I do?

So, having written all that I am no longer sure why I remain cheerful - there are many who believe that those who do are merely blind to the horror. Maybe that is so. But maybe it is also just luck. In my case lucky in where I was born, who I was born to and the composition of my brain. I reckon it's that - pure luck.

It has allowed me to realise that there was no point in dissolving into a puddle of tears like the Squonk (who, in American folklore, evaded capture by dissolving himself in a pool of tears) - or spend my life apologising for being lucky. Instead I suppose I have thought that I might try to put my luck to good use, look out  onto the world with my eyes wide open and see what is to be done ... and then try to do little bits of that ... tiny, miniscule, microscopic  bits ...  Hard to do as I wear a thin skin,  and the torment and suffering of the world  breaks through it very easily.

Having said all that ...