Author, artist is book award winner

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

As well as the 24th Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Award, Ms Fitzpatrick won the honour award for fiction.

Ms Fitzpatrick, from Dublin but now living in Wicklow, is no stranger to the leading children’s book awards — she won the CBI honour award for fiction with a previous novel, Dark Warning.

The judges liked Hagwitch for its meticulous attention to detail and the seamless interweaving of the narratives of two characters from different times.

The children’s choice award went to The Day the Crayons Quit, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers, which is about a boy who finds his crayons have fallen out and want to quit.

The Sleeping Baobab Tree by Paula Layden, which vividly describes the Zambian landscape as a boy goes with his great-granny to an ancient burial site, won a special judges’ award.

Mysterious Traveller by PJ Lynch delves into the world of a desert guide who finds a baby girl after a dangerous storm. It won an honour award for illustration.

The awards are open to books published each year by authors and illustrators who were born or are living in Ireland.

Around 80 entries where whittled down to a shortlist of eight for this year’s awards.

Previous winners include The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne; A Bit Lost by Chris Haughton; Grounded by Sheena Wilkinson and three books by Kate Thompson: The New Policeman, Annan Water; and The Alchemist’s Apprentice.