There is a new German language audio version of Saga on 5 CDs. Previously there was an audio version of Epic. Saga again features audio book stalwart Andreas Fröhlich, along with Anna Thalbach as Ghost.
There is already a 5 star review at Amazon.de, by Thorsten Wiedau who also reviewed the audio version of Epic.
The purpose of the Georgia Peach Award is to highlight and promote the best current young adult literature for Georgia high school age students, to encourage young adults to read, and to promote the development of cooperative school and public library services for young adults. Teens vote for their favorite books out of the year’s top 20 nominees at their high schools and local public libraries. Epic is one of the 2008-2009 Georgia Peach Book Award Nominees.
Epic has been nominated for the 2009 Beehive Awards (formerly entitled Utah Children's Book Awards) in the Young Adults' Books category.
On New Earth, a world based on a video role-playing game, Erik persuades his friends to aid him in some unusual gambits in order to save Erik's father from exile and safeguard the futures of each of their families
Here is what Conor wrote for Final Draft the newsletter of the Irish Writers' Union:
Ireland Literature Exchange, Culture Ireland and the Irish Embassy recently combined forces to host the first showcase of Irish writing in India, with the events all being held in New Delhi in advance of a major bookfair there. It was exciting to be included in this event and rather too exciting that our hotel had a major fire, with all the guests having to be evacuated.The embassy staff were wonderfully supportive though and all the events ran smoothly, with good coverage in the Indian press. For me, the highlight was going off to speak in a couple of schools along with my friend and fellow fantasy author Oisin McGann [see top picture, at Agra Fort]. Like energetic kids anywhere in the world, those at Vasant Valley School [see picture below] were full of enthusiasm for their favourite books and characters, with Darren Shan and Eoin Colfer’s works featuring among them.
The standard of English that they had was very impressive and, thanks to Oisin, their vocabulary has now been enriched by the terms like: ‘eejit’, ‘howya’, ‘banjaxed’ and ‘grand’. The Vasant Valley kids were quickly to pick up an authentic Dublin accent. On a personal level it was a very rewarding trip, but there are longer-term issues about copyright and the publishing industry in India that mean any gains for Irish writers in terms of an Indian audience are likely to be slow to emerge.
The short-list for the 2008 Reading Association of Ireland Children's Book Awards was:
Conor didn't win, but below you can see him picking up his award at the Church of Ireland College of Education in Rathmines.
