Between 1996 and 2002 Gerard Whelan published five books for young people, all with the O’Brien Press – The Guns of Easter (1996; Eilis Dillon award, Bisto Merit Award), Dream Invader (1997;Bisto Book of the Year Award), Winter of Spies (1998), Out of Nowhere (1999 – which became an RTE radio serial with Tom Baker); and War Children (2002; Bisto Merit Award and RAI Children’s Book Award). He also compiled and edited the short story anthology Big Pictures (LETS 1997), and published the adult non-fiction book Spiked (New Island Books, 2002), the result of a 2-year investigation by Whelan and Carolyn Swift into the State destruction of the Pike Theatre in 1957.
Siobhán Parkinson was born in Dublin. She grew up in Loughrea, Co Galway, her mother’s native town. Later she moved to Letterkenny in Donegal, and attended secondary school there. She returned to Dublin to attend university in Trinity College, where she studied English literature and German. She completed her PhD in 1981.
She is a professional author and editor. She is a very successful children’s writer and several of her titles have received awards. Her novel Sisters – No Way (O’Brien Press 1996), won the Bisto Book of the Year Award, agus more recently she won a Bisto Honour Award for Something Invisible (Puffin 2006). This work has also been nominated for the IBBY Honour List 2008. She is also currently co-editor of the IBBY journal, Bookbird
She is married to Roger Bennett, a woodturner, and they live with their adult son, Matthew, near Dublin city centre.
She is interested in literature and poetry, but can no longer read books due to a disability affecting her vision. She enjoys listening to audio-books on her MP3 while travelling by bus or out shopping. She is interested in languages and is invariably engaged in acquiring a new one, the latest being Chinese as reflected in her Irish-language novel Dialann Sár-Rúnda Amy Ní Chonchúir (Cois Life 2008) which is her first novel in Irish.
Aubrey Flegg began to write for children after a career as a geologist with the Geological Survey of Ireland. His first book, Katie’s War, is about the Civil War period in Ireland, and draws on his own early childhood on a farm in Co. Sligo. His second book, The Cinnamon Tree, is about a young African girl who steps on a landmine. In this he uses his experiences as a geologist in Africa, and materials from a research visit to Angola. Wings Over Delft, the first book of The Louise Trilogy, was the Bisto Book of the Year 2003/4, and winner of the Reading Association of Ireland award 2005. It is set in the seventeenth century Holland and tells the story of a young Dutch Girl, Louise Eeden, during the year in which she has her portrait painted. The Rainbow Bridge recounts how a young French Hussar at the time of the French Revolution rescues Louise’s portrait from a canal, and how the girl in the picture effects his life. In the Claws of the Eagle charts the rise of violin prodigy Izaac Abrahams, helped by Louise, in Austria over the years leading up and into last World War. More recently, writing short pieces for RTE’s Sunday Miscellany has presented a new challenge: writing for grown-ups.
Aubrey lives in Dublin, with his wife, Jennifer; they have two children, and four grandchildren.
P. J. Lynch has worked as a Children’s Book Illustrator since leaving Brighton College of Art in England in 1984.
He has won many awards including the Mother Goose Award, the Christopher Medal three times, and the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal on two occasions , first for “The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey” by Susan Wojciechowski, and again for “When Jessie Came Across the Sea” by Amy Hest.
In recent years PJ has been commissioned to design posters for Opera Ireland and the Abbey Theatre. He has also designed several sets of stamps for An Post (the Irish Postal service), including four Christmas issues.
In 2006 PJ completed work on two large scale murals in oils on the theme of “Gulliver’s Travels” for the new Cavan County Library.His illustrated version of “The Gift of the Magi” by O.Henry is published in October 2008, and PJ is now working on a book about Abraham Lincoln by Rosemary Wells for publication in 2009.P. J. Lynch lives in Dublin with his wife and their three young children.
www.pjlynchgallery.com
Liz Weir
Liz Weir is a professional storyteller from Northern Ireland who works age groups promoting the art for which the Irish are world famous. Formerly Children’s Librarian for the City of Belfast, she now travels the world telling stories to adults and children. She organises workshops, appears at major international festivals and has given performances in Israel, Germany, Australia and the United States. Liz was the first winner of the International Storybridge Award from the National Storytelling Network.
Liz Weir is the author of “Boom Chicka Boom”, a collection of stories for children, and a story collection “Here, There and Everywhere” was published in Spring 2005 by The O’Brien Press ( www.obrien.ie). She has presented “The Gift of the Gab”, a storytelling series for BBC Radio Ulster and appeared on RTE’s “The Morbegs”. She has also written scripts for three animated television adverts “Together in the Park” aimed at young children in Northern Ireland.
Ré Ó Laighléis is a writer of both teenage and adult fiction in English and Irish. His novels and short stories have been widely translated into various languages and he has been the recipient of many literary awards, including Bisto Book of the Year awards, Oireachtas awards, the North American NAMLLA Award and a European White Ravens Award. In 1998, he was presented with the ‘An Peann faoi Bhláth’ award by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, in recognition of his contribution to Irish literature. He is a former Writer-in-Residence at the National University of Ireland, Galway and had previously held the same post with Mayo County Council. Ó Laighléis gives readings and workshops throughout Ireland, Britain, Europe and the United States.
2008-09-22
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