Mightier Than the Sword #67 - Words and Pictures

[Paul Carroll]

​ Mightier Than the Sword The Newsletter of Paul Carroll Welcome to a new edition of Mightier Than the Sword, in which one writer wears many hats and explores cultural events. I'm your host, Paul Carroll, exhausted after two incredible conferences. The International Dublin Writers' Festival A couple of weekends ago, on a whim with very little forethought and without knowing who else would be present, I went to the International Dublin Writers' Festival. The speakers looked interesting, the subjects were varied, and I've missed the Irish writers scene these past few years thanks to the pandemic. It also helped that it was taking place down the road from my office, so one half-day later I could attend the Friday workshop sessions, ahead of a Saturday full of talks and a Sunday brunch. ​ The lovely Philippa Ryder - one of the Fan Guests of Honours at Octocon this year! - took my photo for posterity. CBI Conference 2022 One weekend later, I was at the Children's Books Ireland Conference 2022, titled All The Way Home. This was a work function, but one I was more than happy to attend! I wore my pins for good measure, and live-tweeted my way through the programming over the two days. So many tweets. It was a great way of ensuring I focused on everything that was being said, to be fair. ​ We're a small-ish team of 11 (soon to be 12), so it was all hands on deck to get the work done. Everyone in this photo started in CBI after June 2021! I still consider myself extremely fortunate that I get to work in CBI and meet so many wonderful people working in children's books in Ireland (and a few we dragged over from around the globe to speak at the conference!) ​ At the stage-side, we also had our wee living room set up to showcase some of the books by the speakers. Kudos to Sarah for setting it up! Picture This The CBI talk doesn't end there! At the conference, we unveiled our brand new reading guide - Picture This! The guide contains over 230 reviews. Combined with the Also Reads on a number of the books, there are over 450 book recommendations! (And I got to review two of them!) From the CBI site: Picture This focuses on books with strong visual narratives, including wordless or silent books; graphic novels and comics; picturebooks for all ages and graphic diary-style texts. The guide aims to highlight books, series and texts that might encourage reluctant readers or those with language barriers to engage with reading. ​ We had a table full of the guide for conference attendees to take away with them. And you see that patch of orange at the side of the photo..? ​ Our new friends! It was so much fun getting to work with the team on getting this whole event organised and the guide launched. I've played only a small part on that, but loved every minute of it. Read the whole announcement about Picture This here: https://childrensbooksireland.ie/news-events/picture-new-reading-guide-celebration-illustration​ Octocon I am obliged to remind people about Octocon. Here are some fun updates: We had our first ever appearance as part of the Culture Night programming We have our prizes for our Cosplay Competition listed The Programme is almost ready to go out to participants and then (later) the wider public The trade hall is full of amazing creators and retailers We have a ton of workshops We have a full online programme of panels and talks I'm excited to take over as Chair, but for now I'm directly all of my energy into making Octocon 2022 as brilliant as can be. If you like science fiction, fantasy and comics, you might consider attending online or in person - we have day passes available! Other Tidbits There are various updates on multiple projects that need more time and thought, but for now here's a very basic rundown: I'm writing a new script to send to James Killian as part of Project Dark House Down Below is almost ready to go to print - we're just waiting for our foreword back, and a little bit of design work on the inside, and the art back on the last story (with the replacement artist) I almost had notions of doing something for Inktober, before I thought better of it I have an outline for a comic written, and a fierce determination to get it finished by the end of the week My personal life is slightly chaotic at the moment (work being done in the house and no free weekends lately) but I'm looking forward to settling back into a rhythm of writing. Maybe NaNoWriMo won't be a completely insane decision after all. Until next time! Paul Thanks for reading! If you loved it, tell your friends to subscribe. If you didn’t enjoy the email you can unsubscribe here. To change your email or preferences manage your profile. 113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205