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.'

The Wondrous Kilkenny Bookshops

What is not love about the Kilkenny bookshops? Stonehouse Books, The Book Centre and Dubray books all with beautiful window displays of The Sleeping Baobab Tree! How privileged am I, as an author, to be living in a city like this? And not just bookshops - but bookshops staffed by dedicated and passionate booksellers. Couldn't ask for more.

Kilkenny, Galway and World Book Day

Next week will be busy! On Tuesday I am meeting some pupils from Presentation School here in Kilkenny at Dubray Books - looking forward to that, I have met some of the students from the school before and they were lovely.

On Wednesday I set off for Galway where I am being hosted by Sadie Cramer (Illustrator, Artist and general whirlwind!) You can find her website here.

On Thursday morning I'll head into Kilcoona National School with Sadie where the theme of World Book Day is Africa. Throughout this week parents and others have been reading my book The Butterfly Heart to the pupils. Seems as though it's going down well. Looking forward to meeting everyone there.

Then I will head into Dubray Books at the kind invitation of Mary Esther Judy, bookseller extraordinaire and writer of the wonderful blog Fallen Star Stories. Mary has been an enormous support to me as an author and I know to many other children's authors round the country and the world! So looking forward to these couple of days.