In a break from my trawl through the seedy underbelly of
Comic conventioneering, (that’s not a real word, don’t use it), I attended the
first day of the CBI Children’s Books conference in the Lighthouse Cinema.
If you live in Dublin and haven’t been to the Lighthouse
then I recommend it. The Cinema was built underground over three levels. It’s
spacious and well kept. It regularly hosts special screenings of classic movies
as well as your usual fare. Just don’t
go there when the horse sales are held outside twice a year. As a conference location it’s actually pretty
good with good transport links and a couple of decent places to eat and drink
nearby. It’s actually be a really good place to organise a comic or science
fiction themed convention due to the large amounts of free space and the
screens which could be used for panels.
As you can probably guess, the conference dealt with the
growing area of Children’s books in Ireland. Ireland appears to punch above its
weight in this field. Possibly because there’s nothing else to do in this rainy
nation other than make up stuff to keep the children from tearing the curtains
from the windows because they can’t go outside. Bray is full of writers for similar reasons:
basically you have to create your own entertainment out here.
Guests at the conference on Saturday included Sarah Ardizzone,
(Translator) Hervé Tullet, (Illustrator) John Boyne (bestselling author) and Sarah McIntyre, Alan Nolan and Rory McConville
(comic book writers and Artists).
The
panels were pretty good, particularly those with Sarah Ardizonne as she
discussed the challenges of translating slang, which a lot of kid’s books make
use of and the interview with John Boyne (Dublin native and writer of “The boy
in the striped pajamas.”)
The
guests were all willing to answer questions and were engaging. I don’t think
the conference would be for everybody as it is most suited to those who are
actively working in the field or want to break in, such as myself. I can’t
imagine it would be of much interest to the general public and it’s also pretty
pricey at €100 for a weekend pass.
So,
in a nutshell, it was enjoyable and informative but very specific to that small
group of people who want to entertain the young with words and pictures, which
is fine. Dublin has plenty of opportunities for you to meet and talk to writers
such as the upcoming writers’ week.
Back
to the short stories next week.
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