Latest news with #Jeffers'
Irish Times
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Celebrating 35 years of the Children's Books Ireland Awards
Since 1990, the KPMG Children's Books Ireland Awards – formerly the Bisto Book of the Year Awards, then the Children's Books Ireland Book of the Year Awards – have charted the development of children's literature and the undeniable talent of Irish artists who create stories for young audiences. The awards allow us to track the appearance of writers and illustrators who would prove to be hugely influential over the course of their careers, to see the changing profile of shortlisted and winning artists and to celebrate a welcome increase in representation on the page. Books for children and young adults are everything that books for adults can be: political, entertaining, thought-provoking, controversial, meaningful and surprising. Hard as it is to single out individual titles from hundreds of shortlisted books and winners, here are a few of the most culturally significant moments of the last 35 years of the KPMG Children's Books Ireland Awards. 1992: Wildflower Girl by Marita Conlon-McKenna Some 33 years ago, the second book in the Children of the Famine Trilogy won the award for Best Book (Historical). The following year, Conlon-McKenna's The Blue Horse won the Book of the Year Award, and her career writing for children and adults has continued to flourish, with her latest book, Fairy Hill, published in 2023. It's clear, however, that the famine books have a hold on Irish readers and have withstood the test of time as just last year, the bestselling opener to this trilogy, Under the Hawthorn Tree, was the most borrowed children's book by an Irish author in Irish public libraries, a testament to its unwavering popularity. READ MORE A new signed limited edition of all three books together will be published this month by The O'Brien Press. Exclusive to Kenny's Bookshop, this edition includes a new foreword by Conlon-McKenna reflecting on the legacy of the whole trilogy. 2005: How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers The debut picturebook from author and illustrator Oliver Jeffers was published in 2004, having been plucked from the slush pile at HarperCollins Children's Books. In 2005, it won a Merit Award (now called Honour Awards) and in the following decade, 12 of Jeffers' books featured on the shortlist, winning 10 prestigious awards. Jeffers' impact on readers, and on the publishing industry, has been seismic. In 2020, Apple TV+ released a short film, voiced by Meryl Streep, Chris O'Dowd, Jacob Tremblay and Ruth Negga, based on Jeffers' New York Times bestselling and TIME Best Book of the Year, Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth. How to Catch a Star represents the start of Jeffers' journey with the character known as 'the boy', and predates the development of his distinctive handwritten type, used in later editions of the book and much imitated in picturebooks globally. 2016: Asking For It by Louise O'Neill In 2014, Louise O'Neill's debut dystopian novel, Only Ever Yours, was published and won a host of awards, including the 2015 Eilís Dillon Award. There was much discussion, including from the author herself , about whether the book should be categorised as young adult or adult fiction, and how dark a plot young readers can withstand – a discussion that resurfaces often with 'crossover' fiction of this type. O'Neill's sophomore novel, Asking For It, winner of the Honour Award for Fiction in 2016, caused shockwaves on a nationwide level and got Ireland talking about rape culture, consent and misogyny. O'Neill worked with RTÉ on a documentary, Asking For It?: Reality Bites, and in the aftermath of #WakingTheFeminists, the book was adapted for the stage appearing at the Everyman and the Abbey in 2018. 2021: Why the Moon Travels, written by Oein DeBhairduin, illustrated by Leanne McDonagh This groundbreaking book, published by Skein Press in 2020, is a haunting collection of twenty tales rooted in the oral tradition of the Irish Traveller community, written and illustrated by Mincéir artists. Why the Moon Travels won the Eilís Dillon Award and the Judges' Special Award in 2021; it was noted for its artistic excellence and as a book that 'celebrates and shares a rich tradition that may be unfamiliar to many readers'. Our judges said: 'in these stories, this world and the otherworld are intertwined, the personal is often used to explore the universal, and storytelling becomes a means of making sense of our surroundings'. In 2022, Children's Books Ireland gifted 1,900 copies of the book to sixth class students across Ireland thanks to Enterprise Mobility's ROAD Forward initiative, encouraging students to read for joy and celebrating diversity in children's books. Hall of Fame titles from this year's debut shortlisted artists Moira Buffini, author of Songlight. 'I am really grateful to Eoin Colfer and his Artemis Fowl books because my son loved them so much and he wasn't a very keen reader. I'm sure those books have got many boys reading. They are so much fun and such gripping adventures. More recently, I particularly enjoyed On Midnight Beach by Marie Louise Fitzpatrick. It beautifully evoked a coming-of-age summer on the coast of Donegal. There was so much in this book that reminded me of my own teenage years. She captured something really universal and I absolutely loved it.' Eilish Fisher, author of Fia and the Last Snow Deer. 'A book that I love and that is my 'hall of fame' children's book of the last 35 years is Girls Who Slay Monsters by Ellen Ryan. The stories of Ireland's goddesses, long forgotten over the centuries, are brought back to life through Ryan's beautiful storytelling in a way that enables readers of all ages to relate to these unsung heroes of Irish mythology. It reminds us all how timeless these stories are and how all literature can be enriched when we are brave enough to challenge traditional interpretations and embrace inclusivity and diverse perspectives.' David Hare, author of the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Irish Lighthouses: 'I loved reading as a child, but never really enjoyed children's fiction, or the classics. Willard Price's Adventure series were enjoyable, but books with facts and encyclopedias appealed to me, and a book I read over and over again was The Readers Digest Book of Strange Stories and Amazing Facts. I realise that this won't give me any literary credibility. As a parent, the books I most enjoyed reading to our children were by Oliver Jeffers, whose magical stories and beautiful illustrations remained with me long after my children became adults.' Elaina Ryan is Chief Executive Officer, Children's Books Ireland
Nahar Net
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Nahar Net
Report: Lebanese, French and UNIFIL dismay behind Jeffers' replacement
by Naharnet Newsdesk 30 April 2025, 13:48 As informed sources said that there are no motives behind the replacement of the head of the ceasefire committee Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, other sources told Al-Akhbar newspaper that 'a lot of criticism inside and outside Lebanon targeted Jeffers' performance, especially from the French side and the UNIFIL forces, due to his bad role in managing the committee and his obstruction of its work many times.' 'The replacement of the U.S. general in this period might be linked to the Lebanese insistence on the intervention of foreign countries to prevent Israel from attacking Lebanon and after Paris demanded the activation of the committee's work, especially after Lebanon rejected that it be replaced with diplomatic committees to resolve the pending files,' the sources added. Al-Akhbar meanwhile said that the committee will convene Thursday after a one-month suspension of its meetings and that the Higher Defense Council will convene Friday under the chairmanship of President Joseph Aoun for the first time since his election, to discuss the latest security and military developments. Media reports meanwhile said that the Council will take a 'very important' decision.
New York Times
24-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Twins get first taste of ball-strike challenge system with future of catcher value in flux
Last season across MLB, the gap in pitch-framing ability between the best- and worst-graded catchers was 26 runs, or roughly two to three wins over the course of 162 games. That's substantial, and pitch-framing skills have never played a bigger role in how catchers are evaluated — and, ultimately, compensated — by the Minnesota Twins and other teams. Advertisement However, because it's also a skill tied to influencing human umpires, pitch-framing value would be greatly diminished or perhaps eliminated if the league were to adopt a fully automated strike zone in the future. That's years from happening, if it ever does, but in the meantime MLB has begun testing the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system in spring training games. Previously tested in the minor leagues, with positive feedback and results, the ABS challenge system enables pitchers, batters and catchers — but not managers, crucially — to fact-check umpires in real time by requesting a specific pitch be reviewed by the automated zone. It's likely coming to regular-season games as soon as next year, so be ready. 'I don't think it'll ever get to the point where it's (fully automated),' Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers predicted last month on my 'Gleeman and The Geek' podcast. 'I think MLB went down that path and realized it's not where they want to be. Like in tennis, the challenge system adds an element of energy and excitement to the game that I think everyone wants.' And the Twins didn't wait long to use it. In the first inning of Saturday's spring training opener, Jeffers' co-catcher, Christian Vázquez, challenged a 2-2 slider from Zebby Matthews that had been called a ball. It was overturned to a strike within seconds; the batter was out, the Twins escaped a two-out jam and the game moved right along. 'It was a coin flip,' Matthews told reporters in Florida. 'I thought it might have been a little off. Vazky is good at what he does. He challenged, and we got the call. It was cool to see. And the fans loved it. They got into it.' Simple, quick and impactful, just as the challenge system intended. 'I think we also saw a lot of pitches that were close that no one wanted to challenge, which was interesting,' manager Rocco Baldelli said. 'It's there to hopefully enhance the game and learn something this spring. Our major leaguers who have limited exposure to it learn something about it. That's really the goal here. I think we'll get something out of it for the future.' Advertisement Someday, years from now, a fully automated strike zone could wipe out the value of pitch framing, but long before that happens, catchers will be adding a similarly essential ability to their defensive tool bags: judging which borderline pitches are worthy of being challenged and, just as importantly, determining which situations are high enough leverage to risk doing so. Just as there's a substantial gap between the best and worst pitch framers, the potential exists for catchers with elite challenge judgment to add game-altering value. Teams will lean heavily on veteran catchers like Jeffers and Vázquez to make their challenge decisions because managers can't and pitchers, while eligible, might be too emotionally invested. 'It has to be an instantaneous challenge,' Jeffers said. '(Catching) skills might shift a little bit, but there's going to be another level of responsibility: knowing which pitches to challenge. There's going to be a learning curve. Some players might lose the chance if they're really bad at it. You only get two (wrong) challenges. There's going to be strategy built around that.' First ever challenge in @CHSFieldStPaul history and the call stands. Could this be coming to a Major League Stadium near you in the near future? — St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints) May 6, 2023 Triple-A teams have used the ABS challenge system for the past two years, to varying degrees, and the St. Paul Saints' experience suggests a learning curve exists. According to data shared with The Athletic, the Saints' success rate on 335 total ABS challenges jumped from 36.8 percent in 2023 to 49.5 percent in 2024 as their situational awareness improved. And the Saints' experience also suggests leaning on catchers to 'speak' for the team is the smart approach. Last year, Saints challenges had a success rate of 57.1 percent when initiated by catchers, compared to 45.1 percent by hitters and 28.6 percent by pitchers. Catchers initiated 12 times as many challenges as pitchers and still had much better success. Advertisement Batters are on their own at the plate, so expect a discerning eye and overall levelheadedness to result in more leeway initiating challenges. But in the field, the Twins are likely to follow the Saints' lead by encouraging most pitchers to initiate challenges only when they feel strongly about being correct and trusting catchers with a lot more freedom to make judgment calls. 'Our jobs are always going to be important back there,' Jeffers said. (Photo of Ryan Jeffers: Brace Hemmelgarn / Minnesota Twins / Getty Images)
