Kilkenny Arts Festival

Go Kids:Author readings for adults can be dry old affairs, packed with earnest readers biding their time until they can ask a string of impossible-to-answer questions before presenting the bewildered writer with a stack of books to sign.

It couldn’t be more different when a children’s author is reading – the authors are invariably as enthusiastic as the children and it’s lovely to see the awe on children’s faces as they see and hear who has written their favourite book.

Kilkenny Arts Festival has tapped into that this weekend with a reading by Derek Landy (pictured) – a name perhaps not so familiar to adults, but one which will be instantly recognisable to readers between the ages of 10-14 through his Skulduggery Pleasant series.

Landy is reading in the Hotel Kilkenny at 3pm today, admission €8 for children over 10. Tel: 056-7752175 or see kilkennyarts.ie. The audience is invited to dress as their favourite character in the books.

For younger children – aged one to four – the festival has brought over Italian children’s theatre company La Baracca which will be giving four performances this weekend at Barnstorm Theatre Company. To book, tel: 056-7752175.