OF THE IRISH picture-book writers and illustrators who have come to the fore in recent years Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick has emerged as one of the most accomplished and most versatile. – Robert Dunbar

Sadly – Louise Cooper passed away aged 57 last week – the Guardian has an obituary from her former editor Emily Thomas.

It always struck me that Louise was gloriously content, that she relished, savoured life. She was a wonderfully warm person, kind and interested.

Patricia Cornwell talks to Hilary Fannin in the wake of publishing her 17th novel while Philip Ardagh is celebrated for his win at the Roald Dahl Funny Prize in the Independent UK. (Who knew he was 17ft tall and looks like ZZ Top?)

The Evening Echo features our own Olive O’Brien – solicitor turned children’s writer and in the Guardian Shirley Dent talks book choices – from fact to fiction.

In the Guardian – Linda Buckly-Archer reviews Mary Hoffman’s Troubador and Comica Comiket hits the shelves – a UK alternative to McSweeney’s?

Hoffman has written an enthralling and well-paced tale whose conclusion is at once unexpected, poignant and satisfying. Troubadour is not a joyous story but it is a compelling one. – Linda Buckly-Archer on Troubador.

Emma Cook talks to Sophie Smallwood – the granddaughter of Enid Blyton on writing in Blyton’s shadow (for the 60th anniversary of Noddy) and Mathew Dennison talks Richmal Crompton, Miss Swinton and William in the Times UK.

The folks at Little, Brown and Egmont have nabbed Daniel Handler (Mr Lemony Snicket and bassist for the dulcet Magnetic Fields) for a new 4 book series in 2012. And Salman Rushdie is writing a sequel to Haroun and the Sea of Stories called Luka and the Fire of Life – expect to see it hit the shelves late next year.

And Alison Flood breaks the news that Andy Warhol’s illustrated interpretation of Little Red Hen goes on sale in December. And in the Independent UK lists it’s first 50 best winter reads – with Joe Craigs on the panel!

Amazon are publishing 3 self-published books early next year – including Zetta Elliott’s A Wish After Midnight and Rob Fahey defends video game violence – (Call of Duty) Modern Warfare 2 ‘aint for kids.

In movies:

Does anyone get Astro Boy? ‘Astro Boy is a Japanese superhero whose backside fires bullets. How cool is that?’ – maybe Sam Leith does.

With the impending release of New Moon next week – Stephanie Meyer picks up a billion odd headinlines – including the news (via Oprah) that she is tired of vampires.

Fantastic Mr Fox hit the shores of the US last weekend, Disney is laughing all the way to bank – with a climb of 18% in profits, despite poor movie revenues. And finally – Christmas blockbusters made easy with Peter Bradshaw.

Update:

It was a mixed bunch last weekend and about as varied as I could manage…

First out of the mailbag was John Connolly’s gripping fantasy/horror/thriller The Gates. John has been frighteningly prolific and, even more frightening, is how well he can write for younger readers. The Gates hits on a pitch perfect funny bone that slips in the odd scientific truth to make us all feel a little smarter. If you were to read one book before Christmas, this would be a contender.

Scott McCloud’s Making Comics was a recommendation from a few illustrators; they called it their gospel, I’d call it an entire way of life. The book does exactly what it says on the tin – it makes comics – and takes you along for the ride. No stone is unturned and no page is left without at least a dozen nuggets of wisdom. Making Comics is worth more than just one weekends reading and I think I’ll be referencing it for the rest of my days…

And finally.

Heaven Eyes has been taunting me from the shelf for more than 6 months. The book is filled with the haunting and simple tones of every David Almond story I’ve come across; this time with a character resemblance predating Finn in What I Was and a teeny hint of Francie from The Butcher Boy. Heaven Eyes had me asking as many questions as finding answers – and with such original character voices you’d be hard pressed not to be thinking about them for a while. Definitely one book that deserves another look!

In the not so distant past (April) I mentioned the Write Up My Street Competition – in aid of Barnardos. The competition winner logged on to say hello – congratulations Aoife!! Londis are publishing a book of the winning entries and it will be on sale from September – keep ‘yer eyes peeled.

I won that competition! I love your site by the way. – Aoife (Write Up My Street Winner)

Elsewhere – the Mercier Press Illustrators Competition (also mentioned in the not so distant past) has a winner. This time it’s Sara Baker! (pictured) Sara gets to illustrate Patricia Lynch’s Illustrated Tales of Irish Enchantment – due out later next year. Congratulations Sara!!

Hopefully I’ve managed to whet the competitive appetite… so here are some new trials looking for entries:

You could try your hand at The Great Golden Sponge-Stick Comp ‘09 or over on the Achokablog Michael has a signed copy of Michelle Paver’s Ghost Hunter to give away. Go on – it could be you!

I got to chat to a few of the artists on tour and got a brief, comprehensive, idea of Singapore’s graphics world. And I was ordered to visit a bookshop – not just any bookshop though – Kinokuniya (the biggest bookshop in South East Asia). It is vast – and packed to the rafters with books, primarily in English but with sections for Malay, Hokkien, Hindustani, Mandarin and Cantonese all thrown in for good measure. (This has been my favourite part about Singapore – it is a huge melting pot of ideas and languages and it influences everything from buildings to food to publishing.)

I picked up a copy of Adeline Foo’s Amos Lee while I was flitting about euphorically – Amos Lee is a Singaporean version of Diary or a Wimpy Kid and loved it. Adeline was kind enough to meet me a few days later to talk books, life, Twilight and food. (The food is good in Singapore. So, so good.)

(More soon – promise!)

They’re printing a new edition of Patricia Lynch’s Tales of Irish Enchantment and are seeking submissions from potential illustrators to work on the book. There’s €5,000 up for grabs as well as your name on the cover…

Deadline for entries is June 14 – and all ye need to submit are two full colour illustrations and send ‘em via their website. Be warned though, the winner will have to complete up to 70 more images within seven months of winning the competition.

Good Luck!

The Irish Independent had a story on the appearance yesterday – and report that the TV adaptation of the Gruffalo will be out later this year. There’ll be a host of merchandise to go with it – including – Gruffalo pyjamas. Consider this a very early plea for the PJ’s next christmas!

Aebhric from Mondrian’s Room gallery mailed to let me know about the Original Disney Studio Drawings from 1937-67 exhibit. A rare opportunity to see some of the original drawings from some the most celebrated of Disney classics, including ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’ (1937), ‘Pinocchio’ (1940), ‘Alice in Wonderland’ (1951) and ‘The Jungle Book’ (1967).

You can see all of the illustrations online but this is one I’d recommend going to see (Mondrian’s Room is on South Anne Street and open from 11am – 6.30pm)

The second exhibition, Inklings, features one of my favourite Irish artists – Alan Clarke. (Who else?!) Alan appears with Gaetan Billault, Vanessa Donoso-Lopez and Anthony Collins in the Back Loft on St. Augustine Street from 12 until 8pm.

Plenty of eye candy to warm ye up before Christmas.

Julian Hanshaw‘s winning short – Sand Dunes and Sonic Booms.

Emily Haworth-Booth’s short – What do married people talk about?

Isabel Greenberg’s short – Cheer up love, it’s only a credit crunch.

Some really great stuff – worth reading. Definitely.

The Guardian has 11 illustrations by Quentin Blake, Emily Gravett, Posy Simmonds, Axel Scheffler, David Roberts and Alexis Deacon, from The Birthday Book - to commemorate the Prince of Wales’s 60th birthday – edited by former children’s laureates Michael Morpurgo and Quentin Blake.

And JK Rowling wrote in the Guardian about the scene she chose for The Birthday Book - where Harry Potter goes to face the dementors.

The destinies of wizards and princes might seem more certain than those carved out for the rest of us, yet we all have to choose the manner in which we meet life: whether to live up (or down) to the expectations placed upon us; whether to act selfishly, or for the common good; whether to steer the course of our lives ourselves, or to allow ourselves to be buffeted around by chance and circumstance

The story will appear in next weeks Observer and Mr Hanshaw should be seeing a specially uniformed postman outside his door with a cheque for £1000 some time this week.

Looking forward to seeing it! More over on the Observer.