PJ Lynch: Ireland's Fourth Children's Laureate

PJ (Patrick James) Lynch completed his term as Ireland's fourth Children's Laureate, Laureate na nÓg, in May 2018. Since its inception in 2010, the role of laureate has grown nationally and internationally. Beginning with our first laureate, Siobhán Parkinson, with whom I edited Bookbird for four years, each laureate has brought something of her or his own work and personality to the role of Ireland's premier advocate for children's literature.

The overarching role of the laureate project is to increase the profile of high-quality children's literature throughout the island of Ireland by extending its audience. This includes raising media attention and building partnerships nationally and internationally by means of events and activities with children and adults. Representatives from the Arts Council (Republic of Ireland), the government Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Children's Books Ireland, and Poetry Ireland form the steering committee. Children's Books Ireland (Ireland's national children's book organization) is the project manager for Laureate na nÓg. Nominations for the post are invited from 130 organizations across Ireland. The role is demanding and the criteria high; this includes having a body of significant work and an ability and enthusiasm for engaging with children of all ages and the general public—and added to that, a great deal of stamina, patience, and good humor!

All of our laureates to date have had all of these qualities in abundance. While he was still recovering from his time as Ireland's Laureate, a few days ago, I had the pleasure of chatting with PJ Lynch about his experiences in the role and about his next projects. PJ Lynch grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and studied at Brighton College of Art, where Raymond Briggs was one of his tutors. He did not set out to become a picturebook artist; however, winning the Mother Goose Award (now discontinued)—presented to the most exciting newcomer to British children's book illustration—for his pen-and-ink drawings accompanying Alan Garner's text for A Bag of Moonshine, persuaded him to think of a future as an illustrator. In the 1990s he illustrated a number of classic and traditional tales—including stories by Hans Christian Andersen, W.B. Yeats, E. Nesbit, and Brendan Behan, and a favorite from that period, East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon. These books are marked by an attention to detail and the creation of atmosphere, especially of the creepy kind. The Long-nose Trolls in East o' the Sun are a good example of Lynch's ability to convey a dark side of (not quite) human nature, and the girl's journey through the dark woods is taut with lurking, unnameable threat.

PJ Lynch is one of the very few two-time winners of the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration (presented by the UK Library Association). The first medal was awarded to him in 1996 for The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey (text by Susan Wojciehowski), and the second in 1997 for When Jessie Came Across the Sea (text by Amy Hest). The Christmas Miracle also won the Children's Books Ireland Book of the Year Award, the Reading Association of Ireland's 1997 Award, and the US Christopher Medal. Since then PJ Lynch has received numerous accolades, especially in the United States where he was better known than in his native Ireland before he became Laureate. However, his unstinting work in promoting children's books and a love of reading among young people has garnered a whole extended fan-base throughout Ireland as well as internationally. This is not surprising. Over the years, Lynch has established himself as not only an illustrator but also as a successful portrait painter as well as a designer of stamps, posters, and more recently coins—but all in a calm low-key way.

As Laureate na nÓg, PJ. Lynch has shown that he has indeed a great deal of importance to say, and for the past two years, he...