Author and illustrator Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick has won a major award for her expertly crafted children’s novel Hagwitch.

Books that tackle difficult contemporary or global issues and books that are whimsical and funny are all competing for a major Irish award.

YUCK! That’s Not a Monster! by Angela McAllister and Alison Edgson (Little Tiger; €13.90) is the story of a misfit. Mr and Mrs Monster are thrilled when their gloriously ugly offspring, Frightful and Horrid, are hatched out.

RECLUSIVE author Annie Proulx arrived in Ireland yesterday to open a literary festival and will spend the next few days in west Cork researching a new book.

BURIED ALIVE by Jacqueline Wilson (Corgi; €7.55) is the sequel to the popular Cliffhanger, where we first met Tim, his foody friend Biscuits and the bossy Kelly.

GARDA chiefs were last night accused of diverting attention from a chronic accommodation shortage in a row about renting rooms at a well-known hotel complex.

Garda chiefs were tonight accused of diverting attention from a chronic accommodation shortage in a row about renting rooms at a well-known hotel complex.

PAUL McGrath, John Boyne, Patrick McCabe and Paul Howard, aka Ross O’Carroll Kelly, were among the winners at the prestigious Irish Book Awards 2007 announced at a glittering ceremony in Trinity College last night.