LAUNCHING INTO THE GREY

INTO THE GREY: OFFICIAL LAUNCH

Last night, September 7^th, the official launch of Celine Kiernan’s latest book for young adults took place in The Irish Writer’s Centre in Dublin. In one part of the event space a display of Celine’s work was set out, featuring editions of her books as published in various countries and languages.

Moorehawke editions

The turnout for the event was huge and extra chairs were needed to accommodate every person attending. 
The evening was started off by Mr. Michael O’Brien, publisher of The O’Brien Press, who praised Celine’s writing, referred to the success of her Moorehawke Trilogy and his delight at being able to publish another wonderful book by this author. He ended his talk by introducing Robert Dunbar who would talk about the book and give his opinion on the work.

Celine Kiernan & Robert Dunbar

Robert Dunbar is a lecturer in English and children's literature, presents a weekly radio programme on children's books, and reviews children's books for Rattlebag on Radio One, The Irish Times and magazines. He recently received the Children's Books Ireland award for services to Irish children's literature and is therefore well qualified to judge any work of juvenile fiction.

Well, what can I say? If more glowing words were ever used to describe a book, I have yet to encounter them. Mr. Dunbar told the audience that the book had made him think of the works of Wilfred Owen, a renowned World War I poet. In his poems Owen painted the harsh realities of the war and life in the trenches.
About Celine Kiernan’s Into the Grey he said that the detail in the story is sharp and always relevant without being laborious. He reflected on the depth of the story, which goes beyond what is commonly expected in Irish young adult fiction. He praised the book as being Kiernan’s most impressive fiction to date and ended his talk by highly recommending the book.
 

Celine's Reading

Celine Kiernan was obviously touched by Dunbar’s words and said, when it was time for her to say a few words, that it was all she could do not to cry. She added that the extend to which Dunbar had "gotten" the book was wonderful and gratifying. And, she decided to read a section from the book she hadn’t planned on reading, a section dealing with the horrors of the war and the terror of the trenches. I don’t think there was anybody in the audience who couldn't visualise those horrors to some extend by the time the reading ended. 

Signing

 

After the reading it was time for Celine to sign copies of her book. As always this was an unrushed process. She made every single person coming up to her table feel welcome, sharing huge smiles, kind words and the occasional hug.

This evening was a huge success, and if there is any justice in the world the success of Into the Grey will be at least equally as big.