Published 21.12.2022
by Kids’ Own
by Kids’ Own
A children’s arts organisation and publishing house.
A children’s arts organisation and publishing house.
Kids’ Own is looking back at all the incredible projects, book launches, and events that took place in 2022. We had a busy year, and we are excited to share just some of the highlights!
25th Anniversary Conference
This year Kids’ Own celebrated its 25th Anniversary and to mark the occasion, Kids’ Own hosted a special Anniversary conference. It was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate 25 years of publishing children’s voices and artwork. There were insightful panels, discussions and workshops that covered multiple areas such as early years, children’s creativity, social inclusion, children’s rights and more.
Read more about the 25th Anniversary Conference here.
Read our 25th Anniversary Conference Programme here.
In 2022, Kids’ Own published three new books: Love is Love: A book about teen queer experiences by young people from Sligo and Leitrim; Kind Hearts: A book about our lives by children from Syrian families living in Co Wexford; and My Own Jungle: Experiences of children in care in Sligo and Leitrim.
Love is Love was created by LGBTQIA+ young people from Sligo and Leitrim through a creative process with artist Andy Parson and writer Mary Branley and in partnership with Youth Work Ireland North Connaught’s SMILY LGBT youth group. Love is Love is about identity and teen queer experiences in Sligo and Leitrim.
Buy our Love is Love book here.
Kids’ Own partnered with Wexford Local Development and Wexford Public Library Service to enable young people from Syria living with their families in County Wexford to participate in a story-making, writing, and publishing project. During the project, the young people met weekly to work collaboratively with artists Sarah Fuller, Helen Flanagan and writer Mary Branley. Kind Hearts book is about identity and belonging.
Buy our Kind Hearts book here.
My Own Jungle was the result of a book-making project developed by Kids’ Own in collaboration with Sligo Leitrim Home Youth Liaison Service and generously funded by The Tulsa Children’s Participation Seed Fund. This book was created through a creative process with writer Mary Branley, artist Sharon Kelly and a group of young people in care. My Own Jungle captures the voices and experiences of young people living in foster care.
Buy our My Own Jungle book here.
In May 2022, artist Karina Nachbar and writer Mary Branley engaged with 11 schools and around 256 young people in Dublin Libraries to make books. This community publishing initiative with school children took part in Coolock, Cabra and Ballyfermot libraries. This project was commissioned by Dublin City Council’s Creative Hubs.
Watch our Big Little Library video here:
In August 2022, we partnered with Foster Care Resource Service Sligo, Leitrim, and West Cavan Area. The Children Who Foster project worked with children of families that foster through a meaningful creative process to produce a book on their experiences. This book will be published in 2023.
Read more about Children Who Foster project here
The Green Futures initiative provided an opportunity for a group of children and young people in County Sligo to work collaboratively with artist Sarah Lundy while exploring important themes and ideas that connect to climate action in the Cranmore Co-Op Community Garden. This project was generously funded by the Creative Ireland Programme (Sligo) 2018-2022.
Watch the Green Futures video here.
In October 2022, we partnered with Cranmore Co-Operative Society for a series of workshops led by artist Sarah Lundy exploring creativity with a group of young people on some issues linked with poverty in response to the UN Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The 2022 theme was “Respecting the Dignity of all Humanity: End Persistent Poverty”.
This project was generously funded by the Department of Social Protection.