Speech at the announcement of Ireland’s fourth Laureate na nÓg
Arts Council, Dublin, 17th May 2016
A Chathaoirleach, a cháirde, a dhaoine chóir, cuis áthais dhom bheith anseo inniu i bhúr gcomhluadar.
It is a great pleasure to be here today for the official announcement of Ireland’s fourth Laureate na nÓg. May I thank the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon for inviting me to join you all.
The establishment of the position of Laureate na nÓg in 2010 was a significant moment in the world of Irish literature; recognising, as it so powerfully did, the importance of children’s literature to our society, of the power of literature to open up new worlds, introduce new possibilities and enable an intense and vital flourishing of creativity and imagination.
Many of us gathered in this room today are here because of our love of reading and literature; a love that for most of us began and was nurtured through the books we read and re-read as children.
We came away from those books that were part of our young lives with a greater understanding of the world that shaped us and the role we dreamed or aspired to play in that world. From such early experience of reading we began to craft and form the views, values and hopes that we would carry into adult life. We encountered too, directly or indirectly, the joy and beauty of the written language. Our imaginations took flight as we became transported to new worlds and times and spaces.
There can be no doubt of the great debt we owe to the many talented writers and illustrators who have offered their gifts to generations of children in this way, making a quiet but deep impact on their lives and on the societies in which they live and where they will leave their future imprint.
As a country we can be proud of our international reputation for literary excellence, and of how that reputation defines us in the eyes of the world. Until recently, much of that reputation was focused on the writers of great adult literature such as Yeats and Joyce and Heaney who have won accolades around the globe. With some notable exceptions, such as Walter Macken and Patricia Lynch, children’s literature did not seem to capture the creative appetite of Irish writers.
Indeed, until relatively recently, it was through work written by writers in the United Kingdom and America that Irish children were lead into the world of books and literature. Our own culture, vocabulary and traditions were not widely represented in the works that were to have such a profound effect on the ideals and values that would carry a new generation into adulthood. There were of course some notable exceptions – in Irish as well as in English; but for many, Ireland was not presented or viewed as a place of potential and prospects, because Ireland was not represented in the readings that were such an important aspect of the formational years of the nation’s children.
Thankfully, so much has changed in recent decades. Writers like Marita Conlon-McKenna, Roddy Doyle, Claire Hennessy and our previous Laureates Siobhán Parkinson, Niamh Sharkey and Eoin Colfer have enabled young readers to develop their capacity for creative and aspirational thinking and to do so within tangible and familiar frameworks that could be tested and re-imagined. That is an enormous step forward in the world of children’s literature in this country, a development that brings with it immeasurable transformational possibilities for our society and our communities.
Indeed, it is impossible to overestimate the valuable transformational power that reading can bestow on all of us, opening our minds and allowing us to push the boundaries of our thinking. In many ways there can be no greater gift to give a child than a love of reading, an ability to lose oneself in a powerful piece of writing, to allow it to stir our imaginations, provoke new thoughts, move us into action.
Investment in children’s literature is an investment in the future; an investment which will bring immeasurable benefits and returns to society.
It is critical that we continue, in this country, to encourage and sustain the publication of children’s literature, and to support the publishers and writers committed to producing literary work that allows children to engage with the society in which they live in new and imaginative ways.
Ráiteas tábhachtach a bhí ann nuair a cuireadh post Laureate na nÓg ar bun sa bhliain 2010, agus is comhartha aitheantais do gach Laureate a roghnaíodh ó shin ar an méid atá déanta acu ar son litríocht do pháistí, agus do deimhin is comhartha muiníne é chomh maith ina gcumas le léitheoirí óga a spreagadh sna mblianta amach romhainn.
[The creation of the position of Laureate na n-Óg in 2010 was an important statement, and the selection of each Laureate na n-Óg is not only an acknowledgment of the outstanding contribution they have already made in the field of children’s literature, but also an expression of confidence in their ability to inspire and create the readers of tomorrow.]
To date, three Irish writers – Siobhan Parkinson, Niamh Sharkey and Eoin Colfer - have accepted that challenge, bringing their own unique talent and creative vision to the role of Laureate na nÓg, and leaving their distinct imprint in the world of children’s books.
Today, we celebrate the appointment of our fourth Laureate na nÓg, author and illustrator, P.J. Lynch. P.J. is a true creative, with an instinctive understanding of the intense connection between imagery and words; of the extraordinary energy that is brought to the page when both are allowed to flow together in perfect harmony.
P.J. Lynch has, for three decades, been introducing his own artistic vision to some of the world’s best known children’s stories including The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. A world renowned illustrator, his appointment today is a great recognition of that critical relationship between words and pictures that is such an important element of children’s literature, and an acknowledgment that neither art form is subservient to the other.
Although primarily an artist, PJ is also the author of The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, a work which demonstrates his ability to paint pictures as adeptly with a pen as a with a paintbrush. He has been the recipient of many awards including the Christopher Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal and has received many well deserved accolades, both at home and abroad.
Today, we add to those accolades by adding P.J. Lynch’s name to the honourable roll call of Laureates who have been charged, in recent years, with leading a new generation of Ireland’s children into the world of books and reading. That is a great recognition of the respect and admiration with which P.J. is held in the world of literature.
Mar fhocal scoir, is mian liom P.J. Lynch a mholadh agus comhghaireas ó chroí a dhéanamh leis agus é ag cur tús lena thréimhse mar Laureate na nÓg. Is mian liom chomh maith mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Comhaire Ealaíon as a dtacaíocht do litríocht do pháistí, agus táim cinnte go mbeidh dea-thoradh ar an dtacaíocht seo sna mblianta amach romhainn.
[In conclusion, may I commend and congratulate PJ Lynch as he commences his tenure as Laureate na nÓg. May I also thank the Arts Council for their commitment to supporting children’s literature, a commitment that will continue to impact positively on Irish society for many years to come.]