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Meet Penguin Blue! Meet 'Blown Away', the 11th winner of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and the debut work of Rob Biddulph! It's a windy day, and Penguin Blue has a brand new kite - but where's he going on this maiden flight? In this fun and enjoyable picture book written and illustrated by Rob Biddulph, Penguin Blue and his friends go on a gloriously illustrated adventure full of good ideas, homesickness and the perils of kites. The Waterstones Children's Book Prize has three categories, from which the overall winner is selected. Biddulph's 'Blown Away' had won the Best Illustrated Book category; other category winners were: Sally Green, winner of the best book for teenagers with 'Half Bad', and Robin Stevens, winner of best young fiction with 'Murder Most Unladylike'.'Half Bad' is the first part of a fantasy trilogy set among a society of warring Black and White Witches. The second in the trilogy has just been published. 'Murder Most Unladylike' is the first in a  series of boarding school mysteries, featuring schoolgirls Daisy Wells and Holly Wong of Deepdean School for Girls.First awarded in 2005, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize is an annual award given to a work of children's literature published during the previous year.  The purpose of the prize is to uncover new and emerging talent and is therefore open only to authors who have published less than three books. In 2012 the prize was divided into categories, they being for Best Illustrated Book, Best Younger Fiction, and Best Book for Teenagers.The 2014 overall winner was Katherine Rundell's 'Rooftoppers', a book about about a young girl’s race to find her missing mother over the rooftops of Victorian Paris.What the Press have to say:Rob Biddulph wins Waterstones ​children’s book prize 2015 with debut Blown Away (The Guardian)Picture book wins 2015 Waterstones Children's Book Prize (The Telegraph)

       Ireland's 'glitterati' came out in force last night at the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards Ceremony in the Concert Hall of the RDS. In a night when Seamus Heaney received the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by fellow poet Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, it would be easier to say who wasn't there, than who was - even former US President Bill Clinton appeared in a pre-recorded tribute to 'one of the world's favourite poets'.The Irish Book Award winners are voted on by the public and the various categories were hotly contested. All winning and shortlisted books are available to borrow from Dublin City Public Libraries. Winners on the night were;Neil Jordan, for his novel Mistaken (Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year)Belinda McKeown, for her novel Solace (Sunday Independent Best Irish Newcomer of the Year)Sheila O'Flanagan, for her novel All for You (Easons Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year)Alan Glynn, for his novel Bloodland (Ireland AM Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year)Tim Robinson, for Connemara (International Education Services Best Irish Published Book of the Year)Caitlyn Moran, for How to be a Woman (RTE John Murray Show Listener's Choice)Rachel Allen, for Easy Meals (Argosy Irish Non-fiction Book of the Year)Nicholas Roche, for Inside the Peloton (Irish Sports Book of the Year)Chris Judge, for his picturebook The Lonely Beast (Specsavers Irish Children's Book of the Year: Junior)Anna Carey, for her novel The Real Rebecca (Specsavers Irish Children's Book of the Year: Senior)A full list of all the short listed titles is still available on the Irish Book Awards website.