On Saturday 2 November 2024, acclaimed Irish children's author, Shane Hegarty, was at Luxembourg City library to lead two workshops for 4-10 year olds, one either side of lunch.
The "Tuffi Atelier" event featured "Magic monsters and impossible ice creams" with Shane Hegarty reading from his books "Dexter Lost His Boo-Woo", "Boot" and "The Shop of Impossible Ice Creams". The interactive workshops showed the 40+ children who attended where to find ideas before it was their turn to create their own crazy characters who he then blended into improv stories.
And on Sunday 3 November, the visiting Irish author was Special Guest at the Irish Ambassador's residence for a Hallowe'en reception with the Irish Club of Luxembourg and Home from Home expat shop, where 25 children aged between 6-12 years of age, and 20+ adults, also with Luxembourgish author, Marc Weydert (winner of Luxembourg's National Literature Contest in 2021), participated; he writes both short and long stories, with his first two children's books written in rhyme. The event included some storytelling, with the children going home with goodie bags.
Beforehand, Chronicle.lu caught up with Shane Hegarty who explained that he writes children's books from picture books for infants right up to stories for young teenagers up to fourteen years of age. He said that his events, such as Saturday's workshops, normally go according to what the children want to talk about, and that normally most children are very engaged. On sources for his inspiration, he said that ideas come from everywhere; he has loved writing stories and poetry from a young age, and has written for The Irish Times and other media. He confided that his favourite words are "what if" and he takes shortcuts in describing things, but most inspiration for characters and storylines is from his own experiences. Everything he has written is based on real life experiences and he stated: "I look for inspiration everywhere". He said he encourages children to unlock their imagination.
The Irish Ambassador to Luxembourg, Jean McDonald, was instrumental in organising for the Irish author to visit and lead the workshops. Talking with Chronicle.lu, she explained that the Irish Embassy is actively promoting Irish literature in Luxembourg in the period ahead by working to establish both institutional links (such as with the city library) to bring over contemporary Irish authors, and to link authors from both countries to establish personal links; she explained that children in the community identify as both Irish and Luxembourgish.
