Tag Archives: The Campus Bookshop

In My Happy Place

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Last weekend, I took part in the brilliant UCDFest, a festival held on the campus of UCD, or University College Dublin. UCD is not only my alma mater but also a place I worked for several years. It’s a haven of happy memories for me, and because of the state of the world since 2020, I haven’t been there in such a long time – so it was a real joy to get to go back, and to visit The Campus Bookshop (one of the places I used to work), and, of course, to talk about books and creativity with some very cool young (and not-so-young) readers.

A display of my books, arranged beautifully by Colm and Clare in the Campus Bookshop, UCD

I delivered a talk called How To Be A Storyfinder (which is one of my faves), where I try to encourage young folk to join me in being a Storyfinder – essentially, a person who notices all the stories that are everywhere, lurking in plain sight, hiding around corners and up trees and wrapped around lamp-posts, just waiting to be discovered. Stories are always looking for imaginations to land in, places where their seeds can take root and grow – so, who’s to say that imagination can’t be yours?

I got to meet some very lovely people, I was given a Harry Potter examination (which I failed, getting one question right out of four fiendishly difficult ones), and I answered some excellent questions: how long does it take to write a book? (As long as it takes!) What’s it like, getting published? (Tough, and challenging, but very worth it) Which of your books is your favourite? (I can’t answer this one!)

Thanks to all the UCD crew for organising such a super – and incredibly big – festival, and a HUGE thanks to the staff of The Campus Bookshop, especially my wonderful former manager Colm and his colleague Clare (who has been one of my favourite people for a few years now, despite us never having met in person until last weekend) for setting up such a gorgeous space, facilitating the talk, and letting me scribble on some books, and the HUGEST thanks of all to everyone who came to hear me, those who wandered in and just happened to stay, those who listened to me reading from SKYBORN, and those who bought some books at the end. You’re all stars! And I’m a very grateful author-type.

Me in my ‘Author Space’ with my name in lights (whiteboard marker counts!) (Photo: G. Connors)

SKYBORN is one year published as of last Friday, speaking of which, so if you fancied picking it up, giving it a whirl, and maybe leaving a review in one of the usual online spots, that would be fab?

Hope to catch you at an event some day soon!

Housekeeping!

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I’m just dropping in briefly to draw your attention to two small things which may be of interest:

Firstly, if you’re interested in ordering a signed copy of The Eye of the North, you can do so by contacting The Campus Bookshop, based in Dublin. They are reachable by phone on 00 353 1 2691384, or by email at campus.bookshop@gmail.com. There is very limited stock available, but if you want to try your luck, have at it.

Ted and bag

Ted here has already been and picked up his copy. He says The Eye of the North is ‘all kinds of awesome’, just fyi. Photo credit: SJ O’Hart

And secondly: I am running a giveaway to win a signed copy of The Eye of the North over on my Twitter page. It’s only available to US and Canadian residents, but if you happen to fall into that category, and you’d like a chance to win, all the information you’ll need is here:

If you’re not on Twitter, fear not: I shall be running another book giveaway via Goodreads in a week or two. You can slide on over to my Goodreads page here – you might as well add The Eye of the North to your shelf, while you’re at it.

I think that’s all for now! Thanks for stopping by, and toodle pip ’til next time.

If by any chance you’ve read The Eye of the North, would you be so kind as to leave me a review? Even a star rating on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble and so on can make a huge difference to a book’s visibility. Thank you!