Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards 2011 – Report


It’s over a week since the Book Awards and I’m only getting around to writing about it now. (I’ve been in Berlin in the meantime!)

The night began by meeting my publisher Clodagh Feehan and fellow Mercier author Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc whose book Revolution was shortlisted in the Best Irish Published. We were all decked out in our black tie wear, ready for the night ahead. We got to the RDS just as the president, Michael D Higgins and guest of honour of the night, Seamus Heaney were arriving. So we got a really close view of them and had to crawl in the door with some of our fellow nominees minutes after.

(Above: Michael D and Seamus Heaney among others) Read the rest of this entry »

Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards

As some of you may have heard, my book ‘Arthur Quinn and the World Serpent’ has been shortlisted in the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards in the Best Children’s Book, Senior section. These are very prestigious awards and being shortlisted with my debut novel is a very exciting experience. My category has some strong competition. It’s all the best of Irish children’s writers; Three-time previous IBA winner Derek Landy, hugely bestselling author Darren Shan, Denise Deegan and Anna Carey. These awards are different from many others as the public get a say in choosing the winner as points are given based on both judges’ and public votes.

So, with that said, I’ll ask you to please vote for my book here. Everyone who votes is instantly put into a draw for a €100 Book Token, too!

 

(I feel I should also point out that there’s a great children’s writing competition on the site too. Check it out here!)

Win my book!

Rollercoaster.ie and Mercier Press are giving away copies of my book ‘Arthur Quinn and the World Serpent’ to five lucky winners. Closing date is November 7th. To win, just head over to this site and enter your details. Good luck!

The River Poddle

For anyone who’s read my book Arthur Quinn and the World Serpent, you’ll be aware of the importance of the River Poddle in the plot. In one major scene, Arthur, Ash and Will explore the river under the city of Dublin.

Here’s a great clip from an RTE documentary a few years ago that tells you all about the Poddle, as well as giving us a glimpse of the river itself. Watch it to the end to see the grate that features in the book, too!

 

EDIT

And here’s the actual programme that inspired me to write Arthur Quinn. When I saw the Poddle in this, I just knew there had to be some sort of monster hidden there! (The Poddle part starts from the 4 minute mark.)

Book Trailers

There’s a great article over at Inis Magazine that discusses the book trailer, its effectiveness and the producers’ ways of showing enough but not too much.

It got me thinking about my own book trailers. Since I come from a film background, I was, of course, excited about having a trailer for my book. Even before I had discussed the possibility with my publisher, Mercier Press, I had an idea of what the trailer should be. Dark, atmospheric, creepy were some of the adjectives that came to mind.

I had quite a bit of experience with trailers like this, having produced short viral promos for various theatrical productions over the past couple years. These plays often faced a similar problem that books do – until the production is staged, there is a lack of actual filmed footage. So I would take photographs and text and animate them to suit the piece. These trailers seemed to be quite successful in getting bums in the seats so I was certain that something similar would work for my book. Read the rest of this entry »

Locke & Key

Joe Hill is one of my favourite new horror writers. His work is always so original and manages to meld fantasy and terror as well as Neil Gaiman. He writes characters you care for and the plots keep you guessing right up till the last page.

So I was thrilled when I heard that Fox were adapting his comic-book series Locke & Key for TV.  I was even more thrilled when I heard that the cast would include the much underused Nick Stahl and Ireland’s own Sarah Bolger and that it would be directed by Mark Romenek (‘Never Let Me Go’, Johnny Cash ‘Hurt’ video, etc).

But then Fox, in their infinite wisdom, have decided not to screen the episode. At all.  Read the rest of this entry »

It’s real.

So, as you can guess from the post below, I got the first copy of my first book in the post the other day.

It’s a strange feeling, finally holding it. It’s real. I can flick through the pages, I can smell the ink, I can even crack the spine if I was so inclined. The words aren’t on a screen anymore; the characters aren’t running around my head. They’re there – on the pages of a real life book for all to read. Read the rest of this entry »