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ChildrensLaureate.org
Reading
Ireland has a new children's laureate
Niamh Sharkey, creator of the Happy Hugglemonsters, will be working for the next two years on getting kids reading.
PRESIDENT MICHAEL D Higgins announced author and illustrator Niamh Sharkey as Ireland’s second ever Laureate na nÓg yesterday.
As the country’s laureate for children’s literature, Sharkey is tasked with engaging young people with high quality reading material and highlighting the importance of literature in Irish culture and imagination.
Sharkey’s own books have been translated into more than 20 languages and she has won numerous awards, including the Mother Goose and Bisto Book of the Year.
She is also the creator and associate producer of animation series The Happy Hugglemonsters.
As a self-described “picture book maker”, Sharkey said her focus as Laureate will also be on the visual, as well as the literary.
The inaugural Laureate na nÓg was Siobhán Parkinson, author of the Amelia books and Sisters – No Way.
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