November and December have been busy months in Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown Writer in Residence land!
Reader and Writers’ Day 5th November (Adult Event)
We kicked off the month with a Readers and Writers’ Day in the Lexicon Studio. Bestselling UK author, Lucy Diamond joined a host of Irish writers and readers for a fantastic day of book chat and fun. I also attended Deadly Openings with Sam Blake, Liz Nugent and Catherine Ryan Howard
Children’s Book Club
We discussed Beyond the Stars and Imaginary Fred in Book Club. Both scored high scores from our discerning young readers. However the biggest hit of the season was The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. They loved the way the story was told with both words and pictures and we watched some of the old French silent movies that inspired the story.
Children’s Writing Club
We had a lovely time at writing club. We celebrated Emma’s birthday with cup cakes and had hot chocolate in the café to celebrate the end of the year. The young writers will be working on a new project called I Am Dun Laoghaire next year. Watch out for the group exhibition of their work in June.
Writers in Schools Conference
I went to the Poetry Ireland Writers in Schools conference in the lovely new Poetry Ireland building. It was great to chat to other writers who visit schools and to exchange ideas.
Teen Creatives
We had two teen creatives workshops in November – one with a film maker and the other with writer, Deirdre Sullivan. In December award winning author, Sheena Wilkinson visited from Northern Ireland. We look forward to workshops with Alan Nolan and Dave Lordan in the New Year.
Writing.ie Independent Publishing Day (Adult Event)
I attended this day organised by my friend, Vanessa O’Loughlin from writing.ie. It was interesting and I found out a lot about self-publishing. I have self-published several guides to children’s books, along with Dubray books and Eason and it’s an interesting process. It also reminded how much I enjoy working with traditional publishers – self-publishing is a lot of hard work and I cherish the input my editors and marketing and publicity teams put in to getting my books into the hands of readers.
Irish Writers Centre
I continued teaching my Writing for Children and Teenagers course for adults at the Irish Writers Centre. We celebrated our final class with a reading from the students and a Christmas party.
Danger is Everywhere Show
I love the Danger books so I was thrilled to bring David O’Doherty and Chris Judge to the Pavilion. Here I am in my Dangerologist's uniform. David and Chris approved.
Baby Book Club in Dalkey (and soon to be Deansgrange in 2017)
Breaking News - I’ll be hosting a new Baby Book Club Deansgrange in the New Year – I can’t wait! I love hosting Dalkey Baby Book Club and this month we made hedgehogs and talked about hibernation.
Launch of the 1916 Exhibition by Jon Berkeley
I attended the launch of a wonderful exhibition in the Lexicon – well worth checking out. It was launched by Children’s Laureate, PJ Lynch.
Swing of the 60s Exhibition Launch
Do catch it if you can – it’s on until 6th January and is a riot of colour. Fantastic for children and grown ups alike. My writing club and book club wrote some fantastic stories and poems inspired by the work.
The Harold School Christmas Fair
I spoke to the children and their parents about books and reading at this lovely school fair.
Drop in Writing Clinics for Children and Adults
I had a record 14 children at the drop in writing clinic on Wed 30th November. We all squeezed in to my writer in residence room and had great fun talking about writing. The young writers read from their work and got feedback from their peers.
It was followed by a clinic with adults who are writing for young people, all very talented individuals.
Writing
I also worked on a new age 9+ idea, some picture books and continued researching the 1940s for a new adult book.
Plus I programmed lots of AMAZING events for Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival in March, including a very special event with one of my heroes. More on that very, very soon.
That’s it for November and December! Look out for the new What’s On before Christmas which will list all the Writer in Residence workshops and events in Jan/Feb/March. HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!
Check out my December Books of the Month Video here:
Yours in writing,
Sarah XXX