Did you know that Ireland has the longest unbroken vernacular literature in Western Europe? Just think about that – what a claim! But it must be true, because that’s what the immensely erudite (and extremely entertaining) Professor Alan Titley tells us on the Candlelit Tales storytelling podcast. Alan is NOT the author – merely, he insists, the re-teller – of Little Island’s new version of Ireland’s equivalent of the Iliad – The Táin.   The history of the Táin itself may be lost in the mists of time, but the history of Little Island’s interest in this amazing heroic tale is also long(ish ..read more

Everyone at Little Island is totally, insanely delighted, ar sceitimíní ar fad, at the appointment of our wonderful author Patricia Forde as the seventh Laureate na nÓg (Ireland's Children's Literature Laureate). We have been thinking for ages that Trish should be laureate. (We think a lot. We think good things.) We have been nominating her. We have been crossing our fingers so hard they nearly broke off. And finally, finally … it’s Trish! Laureate na nÓg 2023-26. Congratulations! Comhgairdeachas!   Why are we so happy? Well, we at Little Island have published six of her books –SIX! And w ..read more

Often when we are considering publishing a manuscript we send it out to external readers for their opinion. Sometimes we feel that we need a young person’s perspective. Sometimes we want the opinion of a teacher, or bookseller, or librarian. Sometimes a story is about a character with a particular sort of life experience – a traumatic event, or growing up with a disability, or coming from a particular minority or marginalised background, etc – and we’d like the opinion of somebody who has had a similar experience, or who knows something about it. Sometimes we just want the point of view of a g ..read more

One of the best things about writing for children is writing with children, helping them to unlock their own creativity using words as the key. And it doesn’t have to be English words. Over the last couple of months I’ve been running creative writing workshops with Ukrainian children, some of whom who speak no English; with Syrian children who speak very little, and with children who’d rather do anything but write. There have also been author visits for Children’s Book Festival, in which we explore themes from Chameleon Dad, and creative writing workshops at Crumlin Hospital. Throw in the Dubl ..read more

by Lucy Kelly-Desmond In this special guest blog post, author and illustrator Lucy Kelly-Desmond shares the inspiration for her book The Horse, the Stars, and the Road (out now) and how she created the beautiful carousel lantern which we see in the story. You can see the real lantern along with Lucy’s illustration at the end of the post.   I had the idea that I wanted to write a story about a tinsmith and a special lantern after seeing a tinsmith working at the Ballinasloe Horse Fair and at a Traveller Pride event in Roscommon. I was struck by people’s reactions as they wat ..read more

Dear friends and readers It’s been over a decade since Little Island first rose up out of the depths to appear on the horizon. A lot has changed since then, on the island and in the world, and so the island-dwellers started to feel that they needed a little change. So we’ve been working away with two excellent and experienced publishing heads on working out what Little Island’s place in the publishing archipelago should be, and how we should look, and how we can express our ethos as an independent publisher of quality books for young readers. John Simmons is a highly experienced brand identity ..read more

Bonjour! Little Island aspires to expand our own perspectives and those of our readers by publishing books in translation. A look at our catalogue reveals that we have published a dozen international titles. This is not typical of publishers in the English-speaking world, however. We often hear that only 3% of the books published in English-speaking markets are translations, whereas the figure would be much higher in other European countries. 1 Is this true, and if so, why? Is the situation really different in France, for example? 3%: myth or reality? Figures can be tricky to navigate, especia ..read more