As the assembled company applauded Seamus Heaney's words to launch the book Enchanted Journeys at the National Museum on Kildare Street, fainter cheers could be heard outside the building. No, it was not an over-spill from the book launch (although that was fairly crammed), rather it was a rally outside the Dail. Nevertheless, the ghostly applause was a fitting backdrop for the launch of this particular book which deals with magic, fantasy and far-off echoes. Enchanted Journeys, published by the O'Brien Press, is an anthology edited by Robert Dunbar, which celebrates 50 years of Irish writing for children.
As Mr Dunbar aptly remarked in his speech: "There's no point editing an anthology if it doesn't promote argument about who's in and who's out." Plenty of those who were "in" were present on Wednesday night, including Marita Conlon-McKenna, Maeve Friel, Martin Waddell, (who also writes under the name of Catherine Sefton) and Siobhan Parkinson, whose Sisters . . . No Way! won this year's Bisto Book of the Year. The illustrator of Enchanted Journeys, embroidery artist Aileen Johnston, was also there, along with the designer Lynn Pierce, who with charming modesty chose to stay behind the bar and serve refreshments.
Marie Heaney was there to support her husband, literally: he was "afloat on crutches" after taking a tumble in Dublin Airport having arrived home from "an enchanted journey in Japan". And lending support to the other writers was geologist Aubrey Flegg, whose first book, Katie's War, has just been published by O'Brien. Teenaged author Aislinn O'Loughlin has recently issued two new books, Shak And The Beanstalk and The Emperor's Birthday Suit.