Ireland has an incredibly rich literary history. Ireland is home to legendary writers such as James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and many more who have made it into the pages of our history books due to their incredible talent with words.
Today, Ireland is still home to some extremely talented contemporary writers such as Anne Enright, Sally Rooney, Eoin Colfer, Sarah Webb, Ellen Ryan, and many, many more. Not to mention the abundance of wonderful Irish illustrators. We are a country overflowing with creative talent.
The fact that we are home to fantastic writers, illustrators, and booksellers makes it all the more disappointing to learn that Irish books are just not receiving the visibility they deserve.
In a recent article in The Irish Times, Fiona Gartland highlighted the concerns being raised by children’s author Sarah Webb and many others about how Irish books are being left behind due to many factors, one of them being that many books do not receive the same attention and promotion as books that come with big celebrity names attached to them.
Sarah Webb recently took to social media to share that she noticed there hadn’t been an Irish writer or illustrator in the Irish top 10 for over 20 weeks. This is a real shame as there are so many wonderful books that children are missing out on.
The ironic thing is, as noted in Gartland’s article, when children are given Irish books, they fall in love with them. Our Irish authors can hold their own.
What can we do to promote Irish authors?
Author Sarah Webb has created the Discover Irish Children’s Books campaign. You can lean more and discover how to get involved by visiting the website https://discoveririshkidsbooks.ie/about/
The aim of this campaign is to bring Irish children’s books and their authors and illustrators to the attention of young readers and adults.
This campaign is needed because many children living in Ireland cannot name any children’s authors who are Irish or living in Ireland. Very few Irish books are appearing in festivals in Ireland. This does not make any sense. Books written by Irish authors should absolutely be given attention in Irish literary festivals and at Irish literary events. We should be able to showcase and celebrate the amazing talent we have on our doorstep.
It is a terrible shame that Irish children’s books are hardly appearing in Irish children’s bestseller lists.
There are so many steps that can be taken to help balance the scales so that Irish books are not being so massively overlooked.
We need to spotlight them at our literary events. Bookshops need to showcase them in their stores. In classrooms, teachers and/or school librarians need to pay attention to the amazing Irish works at their fingertips and bring these books into their classes so kids can see them, read them, talk about them, and get excited about them. Unfortunately when we are young, the books we read are behind gatekeepers. When we are little, our books are bought for us, shown to us, and if we are never shown certain books then we don’t ever get the opportunity to love them.
Adults buying books for their children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, children of friends … whoever we may be buying books for, we have a responsibility and an incredible opportunity to expand the horizons of the young readers in our lives.
As a literary reviewer, and as a book lover in general, I am going to make a very conscious decision to make sure that I highlight Irish books on Katelovesliterature.com. I am from Dublin, I’m very proud to be Irish, and even though I have featured Irish writers frequently on my platforms, I still believe that I could do even more.
I want to be a Discover Irish Children’s Books champion, I want to give recommendations about wonderful books that I think young people would really enjoy, and I want to share and celebrate Irish talent and creativity.
This campaign is not about ignoring other books or talking about giving young readers Irish books only, but it is about ensuring that Irish books have a seat at the table. It is about ensuring that we are not missing out on or overlooking some amazing stories.
I do not just discuss books. I will continue to review and discuss films, poems, theatre, and theory and literary events and literary inspired trips as I always have. I will continue to ensure that I discuss a broad range of literature, but I will be creating a list of Irish book recommendations and I will be continuously adding to that list so that when readers visit Katelovesliterature.com, not only will they find a wide rage of topics to read about, but they will also find a curated list of Irish book recommendations that I hope they will be inspired by, and I hope that they will come across new books that they will really enjoy.
Be sure to visit https://discoveririshkidsbooks.ie/about/ for more information.
Visit childrensbooksireland.ie. for some fantastic reviews and recommendations of Irish children’s books.
Of course, if you don’t already, be sure to follow me on Instagram @katelovesliterature for all info and updates regarding Katelovesliteraure.com
#DiscoverIrishKidsBooks
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