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Join Amnesty International's Urgent Action Network. You can help save lives, free prisoners of conscience and prevent torture, simply by joining their letter-writing campaigns.
The Arts Council is the national agency for funding, developing and promoting the arts in Ireland.
Barrington Stoke is a Scottish publisher that specializes in producing for books reluctant or struggling readers. They are famous for their expertise in language editing and for working with the best mainstream writers. They have also produced my books, The Goblin of Tara and The Evil Eye.
Michael Carroll is a prolific author of science fiction and fantasy as well as other genres. He is also a very entertaining speaker and heavily involved in sci-fi and fantasy conventions in Ireland.
CB Info is an invaluable resource website run by Children’s Books Ireland. It offers advice on how to get published, both for writers and illustrators, as well as a wealth of information about all the different professions and organizations working in children’s publishing in Ireland.
Children's Books Ireland is the national children's book organisation of Ireland. CBI is involved in many activities and aims to engage young people with books, create greater understanding of the importance of books for young people and resource everyone with an interest in books for children.
Eoin Colfer is Ireland's biggest-selling writer for children, famous his for fast paced stories loaded with imagination and humour - and for being something of a stand-up comedian on his publicity tours.
Culture Ireland is the Irish State Agency that promotes the best of Ireland’s arts and culture internationally and assists in the development of Ireland’s international cultural relations. One of their main responsibilities is to provide travel grants for those who want to promote their art abroad.
EasterCon is the British National Science Fiction Convention, the biggest annual science fiction and fantasy convention in the UK and has been held every Easter weekend since 1955.
Herbie Brennan is one Ireland’s foremost writers for children and adults, with combined sales of over 7.5 million and a staggering list of books under his belt in a whole range of fiction and non-fiction genres.
For any budding illustrators out there, the Illustrators' Guild of Ireland can offer advice and support in getting started.
Inis Magazine is the only magazine dedicated to children's books in Ireland. It includes articles, interviews, reviews and an active blog.
The Irish Copyright and Licensing Agency manages copyright issues in Ireland, ensuring that these rights are adhered to in areas ranging from the photocopying of books in schools or businesses, to the Public Lending Right scheme that provides authors with a token payment for every book borrowed from libraries in countries that operate the scheme anywhere in Europe.
The Irish Writers' Union offers advice and support for writers in Ireland.
Conor Kostick is one of Ireland's leading writers of science fiction and fantasy for young adults (and fully-grown adults). He is also a lecturer in medieval history at Trinity College, Dublin.
Josip Lizatovic is a versatile artist with extraordinary imagination, technique and insight. You can see his work here:
David Maybury's blog is the best place to find the latest news in children's books in Ireland as well as what's happening abroad.
Mountain Meitheal is a conservation organization that maintains and restores mountain paths, reducing the damage that people do to the environment in the mountains around Dublin and Wicklow. You can see some of the work they do here:
The Mozilla Project is a global community of people who believe that openness, innovation, and opportunity are key to the continued health of the Internet. Since 1998, they’ve worked to ensure that the Internet is developed in a way that benefits everyone. I use two Mozilla programmes. I’ve replaced Internet Explorer with Firefox, and I use Thunderbird instead of Outlook Express. Firefox and Thunderbird are both easy to use, fast, effective and are at least as good, and probably better, than their Microsoft or Apple equivalents. And, of course, you can download the full version of each programme (completely free!) at this site.
Joe O'Brien's Alfie Green books are loved throughout Ireland for their light-hearted action adventure. In his other life, Joe is a very successful landscape gardener.
Octocon is Ireland's longest-running science-fiction, fantasy and horror convention. It takes place in October.
Peadar Guilin's first book, The Inferior has already established him as a new and exciting talent in Irish sci-fi/fantasy. The sequel, The Deserter, looks set to reinforce that position.
Mark Oliver is a wildly imaginative and prolific illustrator and picture book author. Check out his work here:
P-Con, the Phoenix Convention, is a literary convention held in Dublin, devoted to science-fiction, fantasy, horror and related genres. It takes place every year in March.
Poetry Ireland support poets and writers and operate the Writers In Schools Scheme.
Public Lending Rights is a system which pays a nominal fee to an author or illustrator for every one of their books borrowed in a public library. For the Irish system you can find out about it here:
Public Lending Rights, Ireland
The one for the UK is here:
Public Lending Rights, UK
Random House is my publisher in the UK. They also publish some of the biggest and finest names in children’s books in Britain and Ireland.
The Scottish Book Trust is the leading agency for the promotion of literature, reading, and writing in Scotland.
You can listen to my interview with Chris Newton of SBT here:
http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/podcasts/audio/oisin-mcgann-interview-strangled-silence
And you can read my description of my Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour here:
http://youngscottishbooktrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/oisin-mcgann-twisting-tour-of-scotland.html
Sci-Fi London is the UK's only dedicated Sci Fi and Fantasy film festival - films, books, reviews, news, forums and interviews. The site is packed with resources for fans of the genre.
Niamh Sharkey's rich, colourful and warm-hearted work has made her one of Ireland's favourite picture book authors and illustrators.
Stories From the Web is an excellent resource site for young readers managed by Birmingham Libraries. It offers reviews, activities and writing tips from some major authors.
The Society of Authors has been serving the interests of professional writers in the UK for more than a century. Today it has more than 8,500 members writing in all areas of the profession.
Jonathan Stroud is author of the excellent Bartimaeus Trilogy and a range of other books.
TED is a source of fascinating talks by engaging and entertaining speakers on a range of subjects from technology to social justice, design to entertainment.
Kate Thompson is one of my favourite authors of young adult books. You can check out her work here:
Sarah Webb is an author of children's and adults' fiction as well as being a journalist and reviewer. She is one of Ireland's foremost authorities on the children's books market.
