Thompson scoops prize for children's literature

Kate Thompson has won the Bisto Book of the Year Award for the third time for her book Annan Water.

Kate Thompson has won the Bisto Book of the Year Award for the third time for her book Annan Water.

She was presented with the €3,000 cheque and a trophy at a reception in the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre in Dublin by Minister of State Síle de Valera. Thompson was a previous winner in 2002 for her book The Beguilers. In 2003 she was a joint winner with The Alchemist's Apprentice, and is now the only author to have won the premier prize for Irish children's literature three times.

Annan Water is a book for teenagers, which takes its title from the ballad of the same name.

"I was trying to write a portrait of a boy who was not particularly academic, but who had tremendous skills; skills that aren't really recognised by peer groups," Thompson explained after she had received her prize.

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"It's fantastic. I'm stunned. I'd been out in the wilderness for a while, but having won the Bisto three times now has really helped. Prizes do help raise awareness of children's writing among the public."

The awards are in their 15th year. The €1,000 Eilís Dillon Award for first-time children's writers and illustrators went to brother and sister, writer Siobhán Ní Shíthigh and illustrator Seán Seosamh Mac an tSíthigh, for their Irish-language picture book, An Bhó Riabhach.

Three merit awards, of €1,000 each, went to Oisín McGann for his first novel, The Gods and Their Machines; Oliver Jeffers for his picture book, How to Catch a Star; and to illustrators Alan Clarke, Corinna Askin and Emma Byrne for their collective work on the poetry anthology Something Beginning With P.

Rosita Boland

Rosita Boland

Rosita Boland is Senior Features Writer with The Irish Times. She was named NewsBrands Ireland Journalist of the Year for 2018