Alan Nolan
ALAN NOLAN grew up in Windy Arbour, Dublin and now lives in Bray, Co. Wicklow with his wife, three children and a cocker spaniel named Lily Pickle Joni Nolan. Alan is the author and illustrator of Fintan’s Fifteen, Conor’s Caveman and the Sam Hannigan series, and is the illustrator of Animal Crackers: Fantastic Facts About Your Favourite Animals, written by Sarah Webb. He is also the illustrator of the popular Gordon's Game series by Gordon D’Arcy and Paul Howard. His new historical book, Molly Malone and Bram Stoker in Double Trouble at the Dead Zoo, the follow up to his popular novel, The Sackville Street Caper, is out now from The O’Brien Press. Alan runs illustration and writing workshops for children, and you may see him lugging his drawing board and pencils around your school or local library.
Twitter: @alnolan
Instagram: @alannolan_author
Gerry Daly
Gerry Daly is a children’s author and illustrator who lives by the sea in Dublin. Finn’s First Song - A Whaley Big Adventure his first book to both write and illustrate was published in 2021. Gerry has also illustrated picture books written by award winning author Erika McGann including the bestselling Where Are You, Puffing? which is translated into Irish as Cá Bhfuil Puifín Beag?, Wee Donkey’s Treasure Hunt, and also Puffling And The Egg a new Skellig island adventure for the helpful little puffling. All are published by The O’Brien Press. Gerry loves to paint birds and animals, from the tiniest to the biggest of them all. He enjoys bringing interactive reading and drawing events to schools, libraries, and festivals either in person or online.
Nicola Pierce
Originally from Tallaght but now living in Drogheda, Nicola Pierce loves reading and writing about history! Her first novel, Spirit of the Titanic, published by The O'Brien Press in 2011, was reprinted five times within its first twelve months. Her second novel, City of Fate, about World War II's Battle of Stalingrad, was shortlisted for the Warwickshire Year Nine Book Award 2014. In 2015, The O'Brien Press published Behind the Walls, about the 1688-9 Siege of Derry. Kings of the Boyne, released in 2016, was shortlisted for the 2017 LAI Children’s Book Award. April 2018 saw the publication of her history book for adults, Titanic, True Stories of Her Passengers, Crew and Legacy. Her most recent children’s novel, Chasing Ghosts; An Arctic Adventure, about the doomed John Franklin expedition, was published in March 2020. In September 2021 she released her history of Dublin’s O’Connell Street. Her sixth children’s novel, In Between Worlds, The Journey of the Famine Girls, is out in 2023.
Emma-Jane Leeson
We got to have a quick chat with Emma-Jane Leeson, author of the Johnny Magory books.
Hey Emma-Jane, tell us about your love of reading?
I had the most amazing childhood which was jam-packed with outdoor adventures and books and stories. My mother read to us from the moment we were born and it’s easy to see the benefits of her doing that. Myself and my siblings all have pretty wild imaginations and spirits that I believe is directly attributed to the books that were read to us and that we subsequently read growing up. It’s a tradition I carried on with my own children and developed a routine of reading to them since day one. Our bedtime routine was mam reading us a story from a book and then dad telling us a story about Johnny McGory. He basically made up a highly imaginative version of whatever we had done that day and it was always peppered with talking animals and trees.
Nowadays my reading pattern hasn’t changed too much. I love reading children’s books still, or else biographies.
What made you want to start writing books?
My parents, mam especially, always encouraged us to tell stories and write them down. I remember winning the ‘Write a Book’ competition in second class, a story about Dinks the Dinosaur (I was obsessed with Dinosaurs!) so I suppose that’s where it all started really! When my eldest daughter was born in 2004 I wrote down a few Johnny McGory stories one night and then left them in a box for 12 years until my 30th when my mam encouraged me to “do something with those stories you’ve written down”! I self-published the first Johnny Mcgory in the Magical Wild as a pure hobby following the nudge from my mother and, well, I was bitten by the bug then!
What are your top ten children’s books?
In no order:
- Don Conroy – The owl who couldn’t give a hoot
- Roald Dahl – Revolting Rhymes
- Roald Dahl – Matilda
- Dolores Keaveney – The Little Sunflower Seed
- Abi Elphinestone – The Dream Snatcher
- Kevin Doyle and Spark Deeley – The worms that saved the world
- Jon Klassen – I want my hat back
- Dr Seuss – Oh the places you’ll go
- Sandol Stoddard Warburg – I like you
- Benji Bennett – Before you sleep
Find out more about Emma-Jane here
I live in Northern Ireland and have published seventeen books for children. I am probably best known for my Will Gallows books, the first of which was a Richard & Judy Book club pick, and shortlisted for the Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year 2012. More recently, my Flyntlock Bones series was a Times ‘best summer read’, and my most recent chapter book series Ivy Newt has just sold to the US & Canada and was a LoveReading4Kids book of the month. What really inspires me are the many fun storytelling and writing workshop events I’ve been taking around NI schools where I tell the children that from when I was a pupil in P5, I’ve been writing stories and making them into little books. I am married to Elaine, who is Canadian, and we have twin girls, Sarah-Jane and Rebekah, not forgetting Duke the Bichon Frise who will do anything for a rich tea biscuit.
You can find Derek at
www.derekkeilty.co.uk
www.Instagram.com/derekkeilty/
Shelley Corcoran is an art photographer that lives in Longford. She has been teaching art photography to children for the past 13 years and writing a children’s book is a dream come true! Her latest release ‘The Most Irish Person’ celebrates the multicultural society Ireland is and how children fit into this beautiful patchwork. She absolutely loves reading in schools, libraries and festivals and has done so all around the country.
Shelley is helping us launch the MS Readathon in Dublin on September 23rd.
You can find out more about Shelley on her Instagram
www.instagram.com/the_most_irish_person_book/
Sinéad was raised in a small house full of books in the south-east of Ireland. She now lives in County Meath, near Dublin, with her husband, their daughter and an ever-expanding book collection. She has been writing for 10 years now and her latest release Sword of the Sun combines contemporary Ireland with a world of ancient Celtic folklore. She has also written popular books including The Silver Road and Lola and Larch.
Sinéad became a reader from very early and absolutely loved reading anything she could! ‘There are so many brilliant stories out there and there is a story for everyone. No matter what you like or what you are interested in there is a story out there for you! And always remember that nobody has even told your story just the way you can’
You can find Sinéad on Instagram
www.instagram.com/sinead.ohart/
and on her Podcast
www.instagram.com/storyshapedpod/
a children’s literature podcast about the stories that shaped us.
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