A book featuring the work of a Derry animator has been shortlisted for an award at the prestigious Irish language book of the year awards being held Dublin this week.
An Béal Bocht, by Myles na gCopaleen, has been adapted from the original by Colmán Ó Raghallaigh, edited by Breandán Ó Conaire and superbly illustrated by the Nerve Centre’s John McCloskey.
The book is one of five pubications nominated in the adult category of the Foras na Gaeilge Book of the Year.
John works an animator in the Nerve Centre in Magazine Street in Derry where he has been working as an animator for more than 20 years .
There are ten shortlisted books in total, five in the adult and five in the children’s category and the two overall winners will be announced at Thursday’s awards ceremony.
John said it was a privilege and honour to be shortlisted for an award.
He added: “It was such an enjoyable project and there is definitely something satisfying about producing a published and printed book, as much of my work tends to exist solely in the digital domain.”
John, an award-winning animator and film-maker who has been working in the Nerve Centre since 1994, has previously been shortlisted for a BAFTA and Cartoon D’or, and is a past winner of the Best Animated Film at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and the Celtic Film and Television Festival.
First published in 1941, An Beal Bocht is the only of Flann O’Brien’s handful of novels written in Irish using the pen name Myles na gCopaleen.
The novel was translated into English and published in 1973 as The Poor Mouth and has appeared in many other languages since.
The title comes from the Irish expression ‘putting on the poor mouth’ which means to exaggerate the direness of one’s situation in order to gain time or favour from creditors.
It has been adapted from the original by Colmán Ó Raghallaigh and edited by Breandán Ó Conaire.
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