Coleraine author shortlisted for 2023 KPMG Children's Books Ireland Awards

Maggie O’Farrell’s shortlisted book, The Boy Who Lost His Spark, is an atmospheric long-form picture book featuring illustrations by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini.

Now living in Edinburgh, Ms O’Farrell is the author of the Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling novel Hamnet, which was Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020 and the Waterstones Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the 2021 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.

Her first book for children, Where Snow Angels Go, was published in 2020.

This year's shortlist will compete for the KPMG Children's Books Ireland Book of the Year and five other awards, including honours for fiction, illustration and a Junior Juries' Award which will be decided by young readers from across the country.

A total prize fund of €16,000 will be awarded to this year's winners, who will be announced at a special ceremony at the International Literature Festival Dublin on Wednesday, May 24.

Founded in 1990 and sponsored since 2020 by KPMG Ireland, the KPMG Children's Books Ireland Awards are recognised as the most prestigious awards for children's books in Ireland, celebrating the best of Irish writing and illustration for young people.

Children's Books Ireland, the national charity and arts organisation which administers the awards, has assembled an independent panel of expert judges for the 2023 Awards, including a Young Judge, aged 15+, and a network of Junior Jurors nationwide.