Published collection celebrates the imagination and creativity of budding young writers

Primary school children from six Dublin schools launched their first book from the Write to Read Young Writer’s Academy at the DCU Institute of Education on Thursday, April 21st.

Dr. White, published by Little Island Books is part of the Nightmare Club Series and was created at the Young Writer's Academy in May 2015 following a five week creative writing series with children’s fiction authors, Siobhán Parkinson, Sarah Webb, Brian Gallagher and poet Terry McDonagh. Children visited the DCU Institute of Education campus in Drumcondra and developed a range of writing including spooky fiction with Ireland’s first children’s literature laureate Siobhán Parkinson; adventure fiction with Sarah Webb; poetry with Terry McDonagh and historical fiction with Brian Gallagher.

Inchicore based schools, Scoil Mhuire gan Smál, Inchicore National School and Our Lady of Lourdes; Our Lady Immaculate Senior National School, Darndale, Saint Laurence O’ Tooles Senior Boys School and Girls National School, Our Lady of the Wayside and Scoil Treasa Naofa were all involved in the Young Writer’s Academy. The book is co-authored by Siobhán Parkinson and eleven children; Adam Knott, Adam Rafferty, Brooke Maher, Darren Ancuta, Dylan Dowling, Jade Murray, Jordan Dignam, Niamh Shields, Norbert Koczut, Roshan Sivam, Seán Moore O’Mara.

Professor Brian MacCraith, President of Dublin City University said: “The Young Writer’s Academy is an integral part of the Write to Read project and their inaugural publication is a wonderful demonstration of talent and creativity in action with 11 young authors honing their craft under the tutelage of children’s literature laureate Siobhán Parkinson. Since its inception in 2012 the Write to Read project has made an enormous impact on the lives of primary school children in the Dublin area, and has also shown the power of community engagement bringing primary schools, local communities and the DCU Institute of Education together to collaborate on improving literacy levels among primary school children.”

Speaking about the publication of Dr. White by the Young Writer’s Academy Dr. Eithne Kennedy, Senior Lecturer, Literacy Education, DCU Institute of Education said:

“Since the start of the Write to Read project, we have seen some wonderfully talented writers emerge. Just like finding the books they love, children find their voice on the page and discover a talent for writing in a particular genre be it poetry, adventure, fantasy, historical fiction, non-fiction.The idea for the Young Writer’s Academy was born in order to give our most interested and gifted writers in the project the opportunity to work with an established author in a genre that they enjoyed over an extended period of time within a college environment. Given that Poetry Ireland oversees the Writers in Schools project we asked them if they would be interested in partnering with us and were delighted when they agreed to support the project and to help us in inviting authors from a range of disciplines to collaborate with us to nurture the next generation of writers. We are also thankful for the support from Ireland Funds, a valued supporter of Write to Read and Deutsche Bank.”

Speaking about the publication of Dr. White by Little Island Books, Siobhán Parkinson of Little Island Books said: “I love to work with children on collaborative writing projects, so I was delighted when the kids on the Write to Read programme agreed that it would be fun to write a joint story in the Annie Graves mould. Having a model to work to helped to keep us all on the right track, and the children really got excited about the story. Little Island is always on the lookout for new writers — but we didn’t expect to find eleven of them all in one room, all full of enthusiasm and ideas and words.”

The DCU Institute of Education Young Writer’s Academy is an initiative of the Write to Read project which was launched in 2012. Write to Read is a school and community based professional development model to enable teachers and community educators to deliver high quality literacy programmes for children. To date, over 2,400 children have participated in Write to Read, ranging from junior infants to sixth class pupils across 12 Dublin schools.

To purchase a copy of Dr. White published by Little Island Books click here