{"id":499243,"date":"2026-06-14T13:13:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T13:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/499243\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T13:13:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T13:13:34","slug":"chris-haughton-childrens-books-are-underappreciated-in-general-its-short-sighted-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/499243\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Haughton: \u2018Children\u2019s books are underappreciated in general. It\u2019s short-sighted\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Congratulations on being made Laureate na n\u00d3g<\/a>. What are your plans for the role?<\/p>\n

I want to get children and young people excited about books. So, we are going to create a showcase of the best and most inspiring books from all around the world. The books we get to see in our bookshops in Ireland, and in the English-speaking world in general, are only a very tiny slice of the children\u2019s books being published. I have seen some of the most incredible international books over the years and I\u2019ve always wished I could show them to children in Ireland. I think it would inspire them not only to read more but to want to write and create too. With all that\u2019s going on in the world, books from other cultures are essential as they humanise and connect us. <\/p>\n

You recited Loris Malaguzzi\u2019s poem The Hundred Languages of Children in your acceptance speech. Tell us about it and the movement he was part of that helped inspire the Bologna Book Fair<\/p>\n

During the second World War, Bologna was the centre of resistance in fascist Italy. After the war, the people set about trying to make sure the war would never happen again. In the villages around Reggio Emilia, the people, mostly women, began building what they called People\u2019s Schools. This parent co-operative movement came to be known as the Reggio Emilia approach. Their schooling method became famous, and the regions around Reggio Emilia and Bologna became a centre for children\u2019s learning. It is from this tradition that Bologna Children\u2019s Book Fair emerged. <\/p>\n

You\u2019re best known for your best-selling picture books for toddlers (A Bit Lost; Oh No George; Shh! We Have a Plan) Do you have a favourite?<\/p>\n

I think it would have to be Maybe\u2026 It\u2019s got a bit of danger in it \u2013 tigers are lurking in the background \u2013 and it\u2019s great fun to read aloud.<\/p>\n

Are picture books underappreciated compared with text-based stories?<\/p>\n

I think children\u2019s books are underappreciated in general. In terms of sales and cultural impact, children\u2019s books are comparable to books for adults, but in terms of reviews and status they are very much undervalued. It\u2019s wrong for many reasons but it\u2019s also short-sighted because adults will not be readers if they haven\u2019t grown up with books.<\/p>\n

You have a very distinctive style. How would you describe it? Who are your influences? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s very colourful and graphic. I studied graphic design, so that has been a big influence. I love the simplicity of Leo Lionni\u2019s collages.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re from Killiney but live in London. Does that colour how you will approach the job?<\/p>\n

In many ways London is the world centre of publishing. I\u2019ve been very lucky to work with great publishers and institutions like the British Library while in London. I hope to use this laureateship to bring some of the best of these things to Ireland.<\/p>\n

How do the Irish and British children\u2019s books scenes compare, to each other and internationally? <\/p>\n

I am often asked in Britain why it is that Irish children\u2019s authors are so successful. I think storytelling is just part of our culture, the pleasure of hearing a story told well is just baked into us. However, if we zoom out to the wider literary scene, British and Irish books have a lot in common too \u2013 our sense of humour can be pretty similar! <\/p>\n

[\u00a0How do you write a children\u2019s picturebook, and why can 100 words take two years?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Stories are more than stories. Your editor, Deirdre McDermott, said: \u2018They show us how to be\u2019 <\/p>\n

Yes. We might feel jaded by all the injustices of the world but with stories we try to keep hope alive. Stories show us what justice is and isn\u2019t. I think this process of telling stories sends a message of hope to the next generation, that we must keep fighting for justice. Stories go to the core of who and what we are.<\/p>\n

Tell me about your most recent book, The History of Information, a visual timeline of graphics from prehistoric cave art to social media, and David Graeber\u2019s quotation<\/p>\n

The History of Information has been an enormous project. It took me 17 years to make. It\u2019s the history of information technology but it takes a broad view of what information technology is. Language is an information technology, as is drawing, writing, print and so on until social media and AI. Interestingly, the history of information is also the history of disinformation. So this is also a history of propaganda and the manufacture of consent. Control over information means control over society, and this has been true in every era. I ended the book with a quote by David Graeber: \u201cThe ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make and could just as easily make differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

You were charged with a terrorism offence for expressing support for Palestine Action. What\u2019s the latest? What are your views on Israel\u2019s killing of more than 70,000 people in Gaza, Hamas\u2019s massacre of October 7th, 2023, and the responses of the Irish and British governments?<\/p>\n

I was arrested twice for holding a placard saying \u2018I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action\u2019. My plea hearing was in January and my court case is in July. I think as Irish people we must do everything we can to stand up for the people of Palestine. Israel is allowed to act with total impunity precisely because of the shameful inaction and complicity of our governments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Congratulations on being made Laureate na n\u00d3g. What are your plans for the role? I want to get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,3410,213781],"class_list":["post-499243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-laureate-na-nog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}