Crow Lines

Well, I didn't think I could swing it... 

But I did.

The illustration project I had started just before getting ill again (see here for more about the school project) is due to be presented to the parents of the pupils of Liosmor Mochuda National School during the Celebration of Books Event on the 14th of June next.

I gave it the title 

Crow Lines

I have the pages printed, the cover for the children to illustrate, designed. 

Tomorrow I will go to the school and be with the children when they illustrate their own cover, 

for their own, hand-bound book.

In the meantime the illustrated poems are being exhibited at Lismore library during the Immrama Festival of Travel Writing.

Please come along if you can and support the young illustrators!

Cover, back and front of the new publication Crow Lines

For those of you who won't be able to see the works "in the flesh" so to speak, 

I have created a limited edition of this book see here

To buy a copy see here

The project in a nutshell:

The poems are a selection of works first exhibited in 2004 at Lismore Library as part of my Fit to Fly exhibition, and were mounted courtesy of Waterford County Library.In 2006 many of these poems were published, in a slightly edited format, in my book Hatched.

During one of my visits to the school to talk about the writing and making of books, I suggested to Ms. England, that maybe the children could illustrate the mounted poems.A re-cycling project I suppose, with the added bonus, as Ms. England suggested, ‘that the children are involved with literature without them knowing it.’

I am not sure who enjoyed this event the most. I certainly came home feeling privileged and elated from spending an hour working with the children. The drawings still give me goose bumps; they  touch me deeply. So does the fact that in a very relaxed manner, I was able to communicate with these wonderful young minds what it is like to have a disability and to live with a long term illness.  I hope that their minds will stay open to view people with a disability in a positive manner.

To put the book-making talk into practice, each of the illustrators were given printed copies of the completed works, a cover to design, and were encouraged to create their own handmade book. I certainly am in awe of this selection of Artist Books created! Many  illustrations bring a smile to my face. I hope they will have the same effect on you.

Many thanks to Ms. England and her wonderful pupils; City Print Cork; and Lismore Library Staff for exhibiting the now illustrated poems again.

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Thanks for your visit!