Having said that, it was all tinged with a few  little bits of unhappiness that clouded the brightness of the weekend.

First, we learned that Brazilian author Ana Maria Machado (who I really REALLY wanted to hear) was stuck in some airport in London and wouldn’t make it on time for her slot. That was the first bit of unhappiness.

Then, we heard that Mags Walsh–the very excellent director of Children’s Books Ireland--would be stepping down from her post in the summer to pursue other interests. That was a major dollop of unhappiness. It caused ripples of shock and disappointment throughout the auditorium. Mags is synonymous with CBI and her professionalism, passion and dedication will be a huge loss to the organisation.

And finally, Colmán Ó Raghaillaigh of Cló Mhaigh Eo gave a moving and very powerful presentation about his decision to cease publishing after 18 years in the business of writing and illustrating the most wonderful books for children in the Irish language. That was the final unhappiness of the day.

So although it was a wonderful conference, I came home with sadness that I didn’t expect, and my head full of the changes ahead.

Book of the Year Award: Sheena Wilkinson for Grounded

Children’s Choice Award: Sheena Wilkinson for Grounded

It’s wonderful to see Sheena doing so well. Grounded is the sequel to her previous novel Taking Flight, which won both the CBI Honour Award for Fiction and the Children’s Choice Award in 2011.

Eilís Dillon award: Sarah Crossan for The Weight of Water, which was critiqued on my blog in March 2012.

Judges Special Award: Anna Heussaff for Hóng.

Honour Award for Illustration: Oliver Jeffers for This Moose Belongs to Me.

Honour Award for Fiction: Marie Louise Fitzpatrick for Dark Warning

Warmest congratulations to all winners for their wonderful achievements!

For those of you who have missed my previous post or don’t know what books have been shortlisted this year, here’s a quick revision of those ten great works that have made it to the shortlist this year:

The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket by John Boyne and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan

Hóng by Anna Heussaff

Na Laochra is Lú by Laoise Ní Cléirigh and illustrated by Steve Simpson

Spellbound: Tales of Enchantment from Ancient Ireland by Siobhán Parkinson and illustrated by Olwyn Whelan

Mise agus an Dragún by Patricia Forde and illustrated by Steve Simpson

Dark Warning by Marie Louise Fitzpatrick

Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton

This Moose Belongs to Me by Oliver Jeffers

Grounded by Sheena Wilkinson

The announcement will be made at a ceremony tomorrow afternoon. Good luck to all the writers and illustrators. Watch this space for results!

Books are nominated by invited public libraries in cities throughout the world - making the Award unique in its coverage of international fiction. Titles are nominated on the basis of ‘high literary merit,’ as determined by the nominating library. This year, the ten short listed titles were nominated by public libraries in Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Spain, the Netherlands, and the USA.

A panel of international judges under a non-voting chair has considered each book from the longlist and narrowed it down to the shortlist. The final winner will be announced on Thursday 6^th June 2013 by the Lord Mayor of Dublin and Patron of the Award, Councillor Naoise ÓMuirí.

The winning author will receive a prize of €100,000. If the winning book is in English translation, €75,000 will be awarded to the author and €25,000 to the translator.

This year, two of the shortlisted authors are previous winners. Andrew Miller won in 1999 for his novel Ingenious Pain and Michel Houellebecq was awarded the prize in 2002 for his novel Atomised.

The shortlisted titles are:

1. City of Bohane by Kevin Barry (Irish) (First novel) Published by Johathan Cape
2. The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq (French) Translated from the original French by Gavin Bowd. Published by William Heineman
3. Pure by Andrew Miller (British) Published by Sceptre
4. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (Japanese) Translated from the original Japanese by Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel. Published by Harvill Secker and Alfred A. Knopf
5. The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (Japanese American) Published by Alfred A. Knopf
6. The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips (American) Published by Random House Inc.
7. Swamplandia! by Karen Russell (American) Published by Alfred A. Knopf
8. From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón (Icelandic) Translated from the original Icelandic by Victoria Cribb. Published by Telegram Books.
9. The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I Am by Kjersti Skomsvold (Norwegian) (First novel) Translated from the original Norwegian by Kerri A. Pierce. Published by Dalkey Archive Press
10. Caesarion by Tommy Wieringa (Dutch) Translated from the original Dutch by Sam Garrett. Published by Portobello Books

The White Raven label is given to books that deserve worldwide attention because of their universal themes and/or their exceptional and often innovative artistic and literary style and design. Titles are drawn from books the IYL receives as review or donation copies from publishers and organisations around the world.

The White Raven 2013 catalogue features two books from Ireland, which is a wonderful achievement. Futa Fata’s Mise agus an dragún by Patricia Forde and Steve Simpson and Little Island’s Valentina by Kevin McDermott were among the 250 remarkable titles from more than 40 countries. They were from thousands of books that the IYL received as review copies from publishers, authors, illustrators, and organisations from all over the world within the last year.

Warmest congratulations to the authors, illustrators, publishers and editors on such a wonderful achievement in being selected for this prestigious honour.

The shortlist for the 23^rd CBI Book of the Year Awards was announced today. Warmest congratulations to the authors and illustrators of each of these ten wonderful books that showcase the best of writing and illustration for children in Ireland. Each of the titles will compete for six awards, which includes the innovative ‘Children’s Choice Award’ voted for by ten junior juries located across the country. The winners will be announced at a ceremony on May 8^th.

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. They 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 read more than 80 titles, said: “The ten 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 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.”

CBI who administers the awards, will again be working closely with reading groups from schools and libraries across Ireland. Ten specially selected junior juries will choose the winner of the Children’s Choice Award. Five other awards will be made in May also – The Book of the Year Award, The Eilís Dillon Award for a first time author or illustrator, Honour Awards for Fiction and Illustration as well as a Judge’s Special Award.

Mags Walsh, Director at CBI said “Sharing excellent books with young readers is a great pleasure and this year we have ten books which we know will resonate with readers both young and old. Irish authors and illustrators rank among the best in the world so we are very proud to announce our shortlist today.”

This year illustrator Steve Simpson has two books on the shortlist, Na Laochra is Lú written by Laoise Ní Cleirigh and Mise agus an Dragún written by Patricia Forde. Two of the shortlistees are debut authors, Sarah Crossan for her book The Weight of Water and Laoise Ní Cléirigh for Na Laochra is Lú. Half of the books on the shortlist were penned by previous award winners John Boyne, Siobhán Parkinson, Marie Louise Fitzpatrick, Chris Haughton and Oliver Jeffers.

The shortlisted titles are:

The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket by John Boyne and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan

Hóng by Anna Heussaff

Na Laochra is Lú by Laoise Ní Cléirigh and illustrated by Steve Simpson

Spellbound: Tales of Enchantment from Ancient Ireland by Siobhán Parkinson and illustrated by Olwyn Whelan

Mise agus an Dragún by Patricia Forde and illustrated by Steve Simpson

Dark Warning by Marie Louise Fitzpatrick

Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton

This Moose Belongs to Me by Oliver Jeffers

Grounded by Sheena Wilkinson

During March, Pictiúr will visit the Festival for Young Readers at the Palais Auersperg in Vienna, Austria, before moving on to the Bologna Book Fair, Europe’s most prestigious children’s book event. Then, in April, it will visit the European Parliament building in Brussels before moving to the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe, Ireland’s cultural centre in Belgium. Pictiúr’s European tour is being funded by Culture Ireland as part of its Culture Connects International Culture Programme to celebrate Ireland’s Presidency of the EU.

In autumn 2013, Pictiúr will begin its Irish Tour with visits to Draíocht Arts Centre in Blanchardstown and the Babaró Children’s Festival in Galway and before returning to Dublin to begin exhibiting at IMMA, Kilmainham, at the end of the year.

‘We are delighted to have the opportunity to tour the work of some of our finest illustrators, both internationally and within Ireland,’ said Laureate na nÓg, Niamh Sharkey ‘Showcasing these artists will allow us to demonstrate the range, scope and skill of Irish illustrators and will help to grow our reputation both at home and abroad.’

Pictiúr features the work of 21 children’s book illustrators. Illustrators include P.J. Lynch, Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick, Olivia Golden, Alan Clarke, Steven Simpson and Andrew Whitson. The exhibition will comprise 42 art pieces and will include illustrations from books written in English and Irish.

These readings are FREE and all are welcome to come and experience the best in contemporary Irish writing in the intimate setting of the Irish Writers’ Centre. Each reading will also include a Q&A session.

Friday 15th March – Kathy D’Arcy

Kathy has published two collections, Encounters in 2010, and The Wild Pupil in 2012. She also performs with poetry and music group Catch the Moon and is a playwright.

Friday 22nd March – David Park

David is the author of the acclaimed Truth Commissioner and The Light of Amsterdam which was shortlisted for Eason Novel of the Year at the 2012 Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards.

Friday 5th April – Eugene O’ Connell

Eugene has had two collections published, One Clear Call and Diviner, as well as a book of translations, Flying Blind.  He is also editor of The Cork Literary Review.

Friday 12th April – Donal Ryan

Donal’s first novel, The Spinning Heart won both Newcomer of the Year and overall Book of the Year at the Bord Gáis Irish Book Energy Awards 2012.

Friday 19th April – Gerry Murphy

Gerry has published seven collections of poetry, including End of Part One: New and Selected Poems in 2006, and My Flirtation with International Socialism in 2010.

Children’s Book Ireland

The conference is open to everyone with an interest in children’s books.

Sarah Purcell will be talking about her work as reader-in-residence for Dublin City Public Libraries; Gráinne Clear will discuss her book-review programme for children on RTE Junior Radio and the role of radio and media in bringing children and books together. Deirdre Sullivan will share her experiences of being a part of the UNESCO promotion of the Nightmare Club series (with an emphasis on children’s participation,

creativity and interest in reading) and Tom Donegan, writer, curator and festival programme manager, will address the process of creating exhibitions and events for children and young adults.

Registration starts at 5.50pm and the event will start at 6pm sharp, followed by iBbY Ireland’s Annual General Meeting at 7.30pm.

The event is free to attend and everyone is welcome!