On Monday 29 May 2023, author Patricia Forde was announced as the seventh Laureate na nÓg (Ireland’s Children’s Literature Laureate).
Patricia Forde is from Galway. She writes for all ages in Irish and in English and published her first book for children in 1990. Her first novel for older readers,
The Wordsmith, was published to great critical acclaim in 2014. It has won a White Raven Award from the International Youth Library, is an American Library Association Notable Book for Children in the United States, and was shortlisted for the Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Awards in Ireland (now the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards).
In 2019,
Bumpfizzle the Best on Planet Earth was chosen as the Dublin UNESCO Citywide Read which involved numerous workshops and talks with young people all over Dublin city. In 2020 she published a picturebook in both English and Irish about Hy-Breasal (
To the Island/An tOileán Thiar) with Little Island Books which was commissioned to celebrate Galway’s 2020 City of Culture designation, and which was given for free to children all over Galway. For Culture Night 2020 the story was made into a short video featuring the book’s illustrations by Nicola Bernardelli and an original score by Anna Mullarkey.
Patricia is a former primary school teacher and has vast experience in cultural leadership and arts management: she is a former Director of the Galway Arts Festival. She co-founded the Baboró International Arts Festival for Children in Galway in the mid-1990s; this world-class festival, based on the child’s right to culture continues to run successfully today.
Patricia also writes for television and delivers screenwriting workshops to older children.
Patricia will hold the title until 2026.
