BIG READ: Áine Ní Ghlinn visits the Presentation Thurles

Laureate na nÓg Áine Ní Ghlinn, visited the Presentation Secondary School in Thurles last week.

The Tipperary native gave a talk to junior and senior year students about her career and her work as Laureate na nÓg.

The Tipperary Star caught up with Áine after her visit.

Alma Mater

Áine is a former student at the Presentation Thurles and spoke very fondly of her time at the school.

She recalled receiving a lot of encouragement at the Presentation, for which she is very grateful.

“It was absolutely lovely to go back.

“That school gave me a fantastic start in life. It gave you the confidence that you could be anything you wanted, and you just got great encouragement. I was encouraged in every area of life,” said Áine.

She said the school when she had attended, was ahead of its time making sure girls got equal opportunities as the boys in other schools.

Laureate na nÓg, Áine Ní Ghlinn, during her school days in Presentation Secondary School Thurles. Front Row, first on right 

And while she didn’t know what she wanted to do when she left for college, she was confident in herself.

That she said, was down to the Presentation and what she wanted the current students to know at her recent visit.

“When I went back, I wanted to say to the students you can be what you want to be, and you can have your dreams and achieve your dreams.

“You don’t have to decide right now what you want in life, but just know you can be whatever you want to be,” said Áine. And Áine did.

After school, Áine went on to become a teacher, lecturer, journalist and writer. She has written 36 books for children and adults and is most passionate about writing in Irish.

“I always wanted to teach, to be on the radio and to write. Those were the things I really wanted to do, and I ended up having the opportunity to do all of them. So I was really lucky,” said Áine.

Laureate na nÓg

Áine’s visit was promised during her term as Laureate na nÓg, which concludes this coming May.

Áine is the sixth Laureate na nÓg and the first to write exclusively in Irish.

Laureate na nÓg is an initiative of the Arts Council and Children’s Books Ireland to honour artists and writers working for children and champion children’s literature.

Since taking the three-year role, Aine has thrown herself full-time into making Irish language books more accessible for children.

She describes the laureate position as “an incredible opportunity” to take on a project to promote writing for children.

“I was given the opportunity to do anything I wanted, but the project I chose was to lift the invisibility cloak off Irish language writing for children.

“It’s a very small niche that often goes unseen, so I decided what I wanted was to get it out there to be seen,” said Áine.

All-Ireland Irish Debating team meet Past Pupil, Áine. Pictured L-R Orlaith Whitehead, Amelia Tracey and Áine Ní Ghlinn. Missing from photo Pippa Quigle

An Bosca Leabharlainne

The project Aine chose is called An Bosca Leabharlainne, a box of Irish-language books given to primary schools for their library.

Áine said there are wonderful books in Irish for children, but not a lot of shops or libraries stock them.

Together, the Arts Council and Foras na Gaeilge provided €556,000 in funding for the project, which took a year and a half.

This meant 2,200 boxes with 25 books in each given to primary schools around the country .

Additionally, the project provided reading residencies to a select number of schools. Ten artists and facilitators were sent to 21 schools nationwide, with those schools receiving an extra gift of books.

Áine described the programme as a” residency where children were just having fun with books”.

The project catered to English and Irish language schools.

In total, the project sent 71,000 books to schools around the country.

“I feel that it’s a legacy that will run on by degrees. I hope it won’t die that the interest will continue, and I hope maybe children's books Ireland or maybe Foras na Gaeilge will continue to the Bosca from time to time.

“It’s not something I have done anything about, but I would hope somebody would come on board with me and say okay we will fund x amount of books for all those schools to add on every year,” said Áine.

Áine has also lectured in all five teacher training colleges on getting children to read.

Along with Marino College's Claire Marie Dunne, she developed a handbook for teachers for encouraging pupils to have fun with books.

Response

Aine’s visit was a hit with students. Here is what they had to say:

“Thaispeáin sí dúinn gur féidir linn rud ar bith a dhéanamh le hobair chrua”.

“Is inspioráid í dúinn go léir. Ba mhór an onóir dom bualadh léi”.- Saoirse Ní Mheachair 6 Ú Bliain.

“If she didn’t come to this school, she wouldn’t be where she is today,”- Elena Dawson 1 Ú Bliain.

“I enjoyed her stories,”-Lila Doherty 1 Ú Bliain.

Áine said she was impressed by the students' interesting questions, and she enjoyed telling them her stories.

“It is a wonderful school; it always was. There was a great welcome from the staff and the students,” said Áine.

First Years Grace O'Shaughnessy and Paulina Kwapinska present Áine Ní Ghlinn with a bouquet of flowers

Advice for Young Writers

Áine gave some advice to young writers who might like to write in Irish. She said to read a lot, know your audience and include as many people as you can.

“There is a need for people to write in Irish in the broader sense. Write books that are diverse whether in gender, sexual orientation, in race, in everything.

“We need to write more diversity in Irish,” said Áine.

She said books should be for everyone and hopes that the students she spoke to last week know they deserve to see themselves in stories.

“I was also talking to them about the importance of everyone's right to see themselves in a book. Books have to be written with everyone in mind,” said Áine.