On Saturday September 12th, Tara and me were fortunate enough to again be present at the launch of a new book by Celine Kiernan in Crannog Bookshop in Cavan Town, Ireland.
The book being launched was THE CROWDED SHADOWS, the second part in the Moorhawke trilogy, and a big favourite with both my daughter and mine.
Crannog is a charming, independent bookshop, but not the biggest of stores and the place was packed for this launch. All those present were made to feel very welcome and offered a drink before the launch started.
After the owner of the bookshop welcomed all of us, he introduced Michael O'Brien of O'Brien publishers. He started of by listing a host of countries and asking the audience what those countries might have in common, the answer being that in all those countries Celine Kiernan's books have been published and successful. For an author, in the middle of publishing her first trilogy, this is a huge achievement, but well deserved in my opinion.
He also explained the new cover art that was introduced with this second book in the series, and that is now also being used for new editions of the first book; this art was created by the German publisher of the book and fits the stories so well that is now also being used her in Ireland.
He ended his speech with an appeal to the audience to please support their local independent bookshops. As he said, that's the only way to ensure that us the public will continue to have a real choice when it comes to our reading, as well as a way of safeguarding the publishing of local interest publications. An appeal that was loudly applauded by the audience and is fully supported by me.
The next person to speak was Celine's agent who explained that prior to Celine she had never represented an author in this genre and was only reading part of the manuscript to recommend an agent who might be able to represent Celine when she fell in love with the story and decided to expand her horizons.
Finally, it was the turn of Celine herself. She basically limited herself to repeating O'Brien's call to support the independent bookshops before she launched into a reading from the new book.
This reading was very well picked. It was an exciting part in the story and also highlighted how good a writer she is. I had read the book before coming to the launch, but had I not, I know that reading would have made me start the book as soon as I returned home.
The evening in the bookshop ended with book signings, which took quite a while because Celine is a genuinely nice person who took her time with every single reader coming up to her table with a book. She had a smile and kind words for everyone, including Tara and myself.
But. this was not the end of the evening because Tara and me were also invited to the launch party in a local restaurant. Here all those partying along were presented with a celebratory glass of champagne and a very impressive spread of food.
My only regret about the evening is that I wasn't feeling great and that Tara and me had to leave relatively early. The real party and dancing had only kicked of when I told Tara it was time to go. However, despite the rushed ending both Tara and me had a wonderful night and are truly grateful to have been invited to this event. Just as both of us are waiting with baited breath for the final book in this amazing trilogy.
(The two pictures here are the covers of the first two books in the trilogy. For book one I have used the German cover, which only seems fair because it was the German publisher who came up with this design.)
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