Credit: Ali Sahib, Chronicle.lu
On Thursday 30 October 2025, the Embassy of Ireland in Luxembourg hosted a Hallowe’en storytelling evening at the Foyer Européen in Luxembourg-Gare for the young members of the community, which featured children’s authors Paddy Donnelly and Marc Weydert.
The small Hallowe'en "reception" gathered local Irish families and was devoted to the children of the community. The programme featured Luxembourgish author Marc Weydert and Irish author and illustrator Paddy Donnelly, both recently nominated for book awards, who presented their works and engaged with the young audience through interactive readings.
The event, held to mark Hallowe'en, welcomed families who attended in various themed costumes, including film characters, skeletons, vampires and different animals.
Luxembourgish author Marc Weydert opened the readings with an introduction to his latest book KrixKrax, which was recently shortlisted for the Luxembourg Book Award. Switching between English and Luxembourgish, he invited the children to guess the story based on the book’s illustrations and symbols. “One of the most important things about the book, if you don’t know it yet, is having a look at the front page, which might tell you already what the book is about,” he told the attendees.
Following the first presentation, Paddy Donnelly shared a glimpse from one of his books Fox and Son Tailors. “In this little town full of animals, the animals have no tails, until the foxes invent them,” he told the children, as he showed them the illustrated pages. “The father makes very boring tails and has lots of rules but his son Rory is creative and wants to make amazing, colourful tails.”
At the end of his session, Paddy Donnelly invited children to participate in an improvised storytelling and drawing activity. Together, they created a new character named Freddy, a boy who ended up being swallowed by a blue whale. The children eagerly contributed ideas as the author, together with a volunteer from the audience, illustrated their suggestions on a flip chart.
Speaking to Chronicle.lu, the author, who has lived in Belgium for the past sixteen but regularly collaborates with Irish publishers, acknowledged that his books are often inspired by real places and memories from his childhood. “The Vanishing Lake is based on a real lake in Ireland that disappears and reappears. Sometimes I use things from my childhood to inspire my stories. Other times, I just try to write the kind of story I would have loved as a child,” he noted.
Talking more about his work, he pointed out that his books are written entirely in rhyme, making them challenging to translate into other languages. “It’s a lot of fun and it gives me the chance to be a child again,” he said.
The author said he began writing in 2019 after reading bedtime stories to his children. “I wondered if the books I read to them in English or French would also work in Luxembourgish,” he said.
Marc Weydert also explained to Chronicle.lu that preserving linguistic heritage is an important part of his work. “As I’m writing in Luxembourgish, I try to keep some expressions in there that might disappear at some point,” he said. The author admitted that as a father himself, he sometimes feels more like the rule-making character in Fox and Son Tailors book, adding: “Kids have no barriers to their creativity and, as an adult, you have to unlearn that sometimes.”
Chronicle.lu also spoke to Ambassador of Ireland to Luxembourg, Jean McDonald, who remarked: "We are delighted to have been able to host so many younger members of our community again this year, at an event to mark Hallowe’en - a very Irish feast! It's been a privilege to work with such talented authors as Paddy and Marc and we are delighted to be collaborating again with Luxembourg City Library for a series of events on 31 October."
The event concluded with a book draw, where several signed copies of the authors’ works were given away. This was followed by an opportunity for children to collect gift bags from the Embassy and meet the writers for a chat.
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