Children’s book with poem by Mullingar man on Toy Show

I Am the Wind: Irish Poems for Children Everywhere was featured on the Late Late Toy Show. The anthology of classic and contemporary work includes ‘My Delicious Hat’, a poem by Paul Timoney from Mullingar.

The book had won the Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year Junior prize at the An Post Irish Book Awards earlier in the week.

An appearance on Ireland’s biggest annual TV event is a powerful endorsement, and perhaps an even greater achievement, considering the book’s intended readership.

With almost every eye in the country on the Toy Show each year, children’s authors, illustrators and publishers compete for a coveted spot in the book segment.

I Am the Wind was reviewed enthusiastically by Charles from Donegal, who recited a WB Yeats poem from the collection.

The anthology was visible many times over the course of the evening. It was placed in prominent positions around the set, including on a chair that host Patrick Kielty sat on.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, Paul Timoney said it was “tremendous” to see the book in the spotlight.

“I suppose I feel I only played a teeny, tiny part in it, but god, it’s so lovely to be a small part of something so – because it’s a wonderful book as well, but it’s lovely to see it getting celebrated…

“The whole thing just feels… yeah, wonderful. And I am thrilled and excited, but also glad that kids will have more access to poems and maybe be encouraged to read poetry.

“It’s definitely something I loved a lot when I was young and just getting exposed to really nice poems early, and becoming familiar with the idea of poetry being something enjoyable and fun, is lovely.

“But I thought the young fella last night was just tremendous. He was so much fun; he was really engaging… So that was great. So I’m just very happy and yep, just love seeing stuff like that get out into the world more.”

The Late Late Toy Show is the most-watched programme on Irish television – more than 1.6 million viewers tuned in 2022. It was streamed 303,000 times on the RTÉ Player last year by viewers in over 139 countries.

I Am the Wind is edited by Lucinda Jacob and Sarah Webb, and illustrated by Ashwin Chacko. Published by Little Island in October of this year, it is available from all good bookshops.