0:00:25 > 0:00:29This month on The Arts Show, we're here at the Ulster Museum
0:00:29 > 0:00:32for one of the biggest portrait awards in the world -
0:00:32 > 0:00:34The BP Portrait Awards.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38Coming up, to be or not to begorra.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40Local comic hero Tim McGarry asks
0:00:40 > 0:00:45if Shakespeare created the drunken Irish Paddy's stereotype.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47Irish rugby star Paddy Jackson tells us
0:00:47 > 0:00:50about the art that changed his world.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54British and Irish Children's Laureates Eoin Colfer
0:00:54 > 0:00:58and Chris Riddell on writing for the most merciless of all audiences -
0:00:58 > 0:01:00kids.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03And we've music from the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival's
0:01:03 > 0:01:06artist-in-residence, Jealous of the Birds.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10I'm on Twitter now @bbcartsshow.
0:01:10 > 0:01:15This month is the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18The BBC is marking it with a special festival.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22While he left us an incredible back catalogue of plays,
0:01:22 > 0:01:26poems and prose, it can also be argued that he saddled us
0:01:26 > 0:01:31with a caricature of Ireland that has endured for centuries -
0:01:31 > 0:01:33the drunken Irish Paddy.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37Writer and comedian Tim McGarry sticks it to the Bard.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40Knock, knock. Who's there?
0:01:40 > 0:01:42An Irish burglar.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44That's a great gag.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48It's pithy, it deconstructs the "knock, knock" format and it
0:01:48 > 0:01:51contains a lovely image of a man in a mask rapping your front door.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54But it also contains a stereotype.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58The stereotype that Irish people are stupid.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00Hello.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Father Dougal McGuire here.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05For centuries, on stage and in the media,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08the portrayal of Irish people has been...
0:02:08 > 0:02:10Well, wee bit dopey.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Play us a tune, you lot.
0:02:12 > 0:02:13An Irish tune!
0:02:13 > 0:02:16But what's worse than that, we've also been betrayed
0:02:16 > 0:02:20as argumentative, cowardly, dishonest, savage,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23and above all, drunk.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25Always drunk.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28You know, Ireland has more drunks per capita than people.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30Oh, that's a negative stereotype.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33I don't think the Irish drink as much as people say they do.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41And you know who I blame for this negative image of Irish people?
0:02:41 > 0:02:43Do you know who I blame?
0:02:43 > 0:02:45Billy Shakespeare.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Stage Irishness is the exaggerated
0:03:00 > 0:03:04and caricatured portrayal of Irish characteristics.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Characteristics that were always negative.
0:03:07 > 0:03:08But where did it start?
0:03:08 > 0:03:10Well, the first famous example is
0:03:10 > 0:03:15the character of Captain Macmorris in Shakespeare's Henry V.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17The town is beseeched.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20An the trumpet call us to the breach and we talk and, be Chrish,
0:03:20 > 0:03:22do nothing!
0:03:22 > 0:03:24He's hot tempered. He's uncultured.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26He talks about cutting throats.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30And he utters the infamous line...
0:03:30 > 0:03:32What ish my nation?
0:03:32 > 0:03:37Ish it villain, and a bastard, and a knave, and a rascal.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40What ish my nation?
0:03:40 > 0:03:43Who talks of my nation?
0:03:43 > 0:03:46The, "ish" seems important to me, because it seems to mock the way
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Irish people speak.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52And it implies not only difference, but inferiority.
0:03:52 > 0:03:53So, Shakespeare...
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Yeah, he may have been England's greatest ever writer,
0:03:56 > 0:03:58but was he also an anti-Irish bigot?
0:04:06 > 0:04:08This is the actual house in which Shakespeare was
0:04:08 > 0:04:11born in Stratford-upon-Avon.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18I asked leading authority on the Bard Professor Stanley Wells
0:04:18 > 0:04:21if Irish people are wrong to take offence at Macmorris.
0:04:21 > 0:04:22I think they are wrong.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25I don't think he's very offensively portrayed.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28He is, after all, one of Henry V's supporters.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31He's slightly jokily portrayed, of course.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35Because he's a national stereotype, as the Scotsman
0:04:35 > 0:04:38and the Welshman also are in that scene.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40You're saying Shakespeare was drawing on stock stereotypes
0:04:40 > 0:04:42- that existed already?- Yes, yes.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45It's a sort of mother-in-law joke, really, I think.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48The audience would have smiled sympathetically.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50He's an early example of it, I'd rather say,
0:04:50 > 0:04:54rather than a setting of the stereotype.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56So you're a Shakespeare defender, so you're not going to
0:04:56 > 0:04:59say that he was anti-Irish in any shape or form, are you?
0:04:59 > 0:05:02Well, I don't think he was anti-Irish, no.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06I think he was drawing on ordinary jokes,
0:05:06 > 0:05:07common jokes, common attitudes,
0:05:07 > 0:05:11which his audience would have recognised about nationality.
0:05:11 > 0:05:16Just as nowadays, people have stereotypical attitudes.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Of course, we're a bit more politically conscious nowadays.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22We frown a bit more than perhaps they did in Shakespeare's
0:05:22 > 0:05:25time on national stereotype jokes.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27But I think Shakespeare, yes, he shared in those,
0:05:27 > 0:05:29but in a good-humoured way I think.
0:05:29 > 0:05:34O, tish ill done, tish ill done; by my hand, tish ill done!
0:05:34 > 0:05:37So, whether Shakespeare meant it or not, the damage was done
0:05:37 > 0:05:39and the stereotype stuck.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42Now, let's be honest, with stereotypes,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44there's sometimes a grain of truth.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47Irish people drink too much.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49Listen, probably best if you don't show any
0:05:49 > 0:05:51footage of Jimmy Nesbitt at that boxing match.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Oh, I hope so. He can box.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56Or St Patrick's Day in the Holylands.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00The police spent more than two hours trying to clear the streets.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03I suspect he didn't care enough about the Irish
0:06:03 > 0:06:06to be an anti-Irish bigot. Because, you know, let's face it,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09you've 37 plays. That's about... Well, what's that?
0:06:09 > 0:06:13It's about 150 acts, maybe 800 scenes and there's what, one scene
0:06:13 > 0:06:16and one character.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19There's a few other minor references to Ireland.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23Really, in that same scene, there is a Welsh character, Fluellen,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27who's long-winded and boring and says, "look you," all the time.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29And there is a Scot in it, Jamy,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32who is completely incomprehensible when you read it on the page.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36I mean, national stereotyping was just par for the course.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38Knock-about, a bit of knock-about humour.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42You could more accuse Shakespeare of that general trend of you
0:06:42 > 0:06:48stereotype people, you use what the English considered to be
0:06:48 > 0:06:52funny accents and strange ways of using the English language.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54But there's a stage Irish persona,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57there's not a stage Welshman or a stage Scotsman.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01I mean, my own feeling is that that came more directly...
0:07:01 > 0:07:04I mean, it became a thing in the 19th century.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06Whether you can say, "Oh, Shakespeare did it,
0:07:06 > 0:07:10"so we'll do too." I think it was much more part
0:07:10 > 0:07:15of the 19th century stage. The Punch cartoons of the time.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18The imperialist outlook was much greater.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21The big accusation you make about Shakespeare is that he really
0:07:21 > 0:07:24didn't care about the Irish at all.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31The stage Irishman survived right up until recent times.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34The bow-tied comedians of the 1970s all had a large
0:07:34 > 0:07:37stockpile of thick Paddy jokes.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41On radio and TV, the portrayal of the Irishman may not have been as a
0:07:41 > 0:07:47knuckle-dragging savage, but he was still very much a figure of fun.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Maybe I'm being too sensitive.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52I mean, come on, Mr O'Reilly in Fawlty Towers,
0:07:52 > 0:07:54he's very, very funny.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56I like a woman with spirit.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58Oh, do you? Is that what you like?
0:07:58 > 0:08:01- I do, I do!- Oh, good.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04Now, Sybil, that's enough.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06Come on, then, give us a smile!
0:08:06 > 0:08:09So what if his portrayal is a little bit anti-Irish?
0:08:09 > 0:08:11Look at what Fawlty Towers did for the Spanish.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14- Shut up.- Eh?- Shut up.
0:08:14 > 0:08:15Si, si, shut up. Yes, I understand. Yes.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18- Well, will you please shut up then? - Si, si, I shut up.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20- Now, while we're away... - Shut up.- Shut up!
0:08:20 > 0:08:23Things have changed for the better.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27It's unacceptable now to be blatantly anti-Irish.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30In the same way only black people can use the N word,
0:08:30 > 0:08:34the only people who can now take the hand out of the Irish are the Irish.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38Thank you, father. Thank...thank...you...I...
0:08:38 > 0:08:41- I know. - She's all I've got...
0:08:41 > 0:08:42I know. I know.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44How do you fucking know?
0:08:45 > 0:08:49I mean, seriously, imagine if Mrs Brown's Boys was actually
0:08:49 > 0:08:52written and performed by English people.
0:08:52 > 0:08:53There'd be an outcry.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56A few years ago, it wasn't inconceivable.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with pointing out
0:08:59 > 0:09:02stereotypes or using stereotypes to get a laugh.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04I mean, we've all done that...
0:09:04 > 0:09:06occasionally.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09Emer is my wife, will you, please, try and make her feel more at home?
0:09:09 > 0:09:11OK, OK.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13- I'll put some coal in the bath.- Oi!
0:09:13 > 0:09:15And I'll get a couple of pigs for the kitchen.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19But, like all things, context is everything.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21Who is doing the stereotyping and why?
0:09:21 > 0:09:23And what are they trying to say?
0:09:23 > 0:09:25Which brings me full circle.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29It's 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33And you know Irish people, we don't like to bear a grudge.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36Oh, no, we let bygones be bygones.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40So, William Shakespeare, we forgive you.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44Yes, he may have started the portrayal of the stage Irishman,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47but let's cut the man some slack.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Maybe he was only joking.
0:10:02 > 0:10:07Now, if his Instagram posts are anything to go by, the Ulster and
0:10:07 > 0:10:11All-Ireland rugby star Paddy Jackson has a pretty wicked sense of humour.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14The Arts Show took him off pitch to share with us some of the culture
0:10:14 > 0:10:17that first made a big impression on him.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25One of my earliest memories was from 10th or 11th birthday,
0:10:25 > 0:10:29my dad got me a CD and it was a T Rex album.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31And I'd never heard them before.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33# Get it on Bang a gong
0:10:33 > 0:10:35# Get it on.#
0:10:35 > 0:10:36Of course,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39kids at my age weren't listening to stuff like that at the time.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42So, I kind of set it down and didn't really pay much attention to it.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44I thought it was a bit of a strange gift.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47And then, of course, my dad went and picked up straightaway,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50took it to his car and put it into the CD player.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52From then on, he was playing it when we were driving in the car
0:10:52 > 0:10:57and I just really loved them from hearing them straightaway.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01I thought kind of the coolest thing was that it was my dad's music.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03I just instantly, kind of, fell in love with the music.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06The likes of Children Of The Revolution,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09Get It On and 20th Century Boy.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12# I'm your toy Your 20th century boy. #
0:11:12 > 0:11:15My favourite film growing up definitely has to be The Lion King.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20I know everyone, it's probably a childhood favourite for many people.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Obviously, it's just a great film. I still love watching it.
0:11:24 > 0:11:30# The circle of life. #
0:11:30 > 0:11:35I remember going to see the musical written about George Best's life -
0:11:35 > 0:11:39Dancing Shoes written by Martin Lynch.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42I really loved it and it was obviously really special for Dad.
0:11:42 > 0:11:43George Best was a hero of his.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46Just what he did as a footballer was amazing.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49And then being someone, obviously, in rugby,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52it's someone that I've always looked up to.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55And, obviously, being so important to my dad,
0:11:55 > 0:11:57it was pretty important to me as well.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Favourite book would have to be the Harry Potter books.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02I've read all of them countless times.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05I'm sure if I have a family when I'm older,
0:12:05 > 0:12:08I'll make sure the kids will read them.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12I just think it's it such a magical story and it's worldwide,
0:12:12 > 0:12:14so everyone loves it.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17I'm really looking forward to the new film coming out,
0:12:17 > 0:12:19Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21So, I'll have to give that a watch.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24I've only ever been to a few concerts,
0:12:24 > 0:12:27but the one that stood out for me was Mumford And Sons.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31# I will wait I will wait for you. #
0:12:31 > 0:12:33They'd definitely be my favourite band.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Ever since I heard their early music,
0:12:36 > 0:12:37I just fell in love with them.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40I always said I wanted to go and see them live.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43I got there about three hours early, my legs were killing me
0:12:43 > 0:12:45by the time Mumford even came on.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48But as soon as they started playing, I was just enthralled throughout
0:12:48 > 0:12:50the whole concert. And it definitely blew my mind.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55I'd definitely love to go and see them play live again.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59Now, celebrated Belfast poet Medbh McGuckian was recently
0:12:59 > 0:13:02shortlisted for the prestigious Irish Times Poetry Now Award
0:13:02 > 0:13:05for her collection, Balris Moor.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07Here she is reading from it.
0:13:15 > 0:13:21The water knows the way down to the Titanic and her two sisters.
0:13:21 > 0:13:27She rouges her silver lightness, buttons her gown herself,
0:13:27 > 0:13:33so high, so closed, her days malodorous from saturated skies.
0:13:36 > 0:13:41Do you think it reflects well on our city to ones who arrived only
0:13:41 > 0:13:48a week ago to go outdoors in pyjamas to the turgid bar district?
0:13:48 > 0:13:53The Gucci outlets in the city's revamped living room.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57To photograph a child on the Kings Highway.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02Gone is the edginess of the city, cleansed of conflict,
0:14:02 > 0:14:06argument, debate, protest, ructions and ribaldry.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10Notwithstanding the spy cameras, the pop-up shops,
0:14:10 > 0:14:14the flash mobs of drink-fuelled petrol heads,
0:14:14 > 0:14:18the new Purple Flag award.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22I still have to find my life through the false prison of
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Samson and Goliath,
0:14:24 > 0:14:29the ailing road perfuming the heavy curtains of Parliament.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34We still show our papers to reveal where we are going.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47Well, we're all too used to taking a selfie these days,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50but what makes a portrait different?
0:14:50 > 0:14:53We are here at what have been dubbed the portraiture Oscars -
0:14:53 > 0:14:55The BP Portrait Awards -
0:14:55 > 0:14:59on a long overdue return visit to the Ulster Museum.
0:15:06 > 0:15:12Kim, what makes a portrait different to a selfie we take on our phone?
0:15:12 > 0:15:14I think it's really the magic that happens
0:15:14 > 0:15:16between artist and the sitter.
0:15:16 > 0:15:22That engagement and interaction between the artist's brush
0:15:22 > 0:15:26and the analytical way that they look at that person.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30But also, they're talking, engaging with the sitter.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33They're learning more about that person, their personality.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38And that actually adds another layer to the image that we see
0:15:38 > 0:15:40and the painting.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43And, really, you can't replicate that in a photograph.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45There's so many questions that we want to ask about portraits
0:15:45 > 0:15:49that have been painted. You know, who is that sitter?
0:15:49 > 0:15:52Why did the artist choose that person?
0:15:52 > 0:15:55And why is the composition in that way?
0:15:55 > 0:15:58I mean, it is such a magical experience for not
0:15:58 > 0:16:01just the artist, but the sitter themselves.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03I suppose, also, the artist
0:16:03 > 0:16:07is probably going to show your flaws. Whereas, on a selfie,
0:16:07 > 0:16:11you're going to either delete or heavily Photoshop yourself.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14I've spoken to many of the portrait artists about it, that
0:16:14 > 0:16:17some of the sitters actually say that there is a
0:16:17 > 0:16:21layer of themselves or an aspect of their personality that comes
0:16:21 > 0:16:24out in the paint that they are quite shocked at.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28That they weren't expecting that the public then could actually see.
0:16:31 > 0:16:37These are the Rolls-Royce, I believe, of portrait awards.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40It is. It's internationally important.
0:16:40 > 0:16:4592 countries' artists submitted work to this show.
0:16:45 > 0:16:51And out of the 2,748 that were digitally submitted,
0:16:51 > 0:16:55it was whittled down in a two-stage process.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59To seeing the actual paintings, there were 456 of those,
0:16:59 > 0:17:06and then it became the 55 selected artists that are in the show.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10Five out of those 55 artists are Irish.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36The variety that you see on the walls is amazing.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40And every artist's interpretation, whether it their own self-portrait
0:17:40 > 0:17:44or of another person or a group of people, is just incredible.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48It really appeals to a wide audience, this exhibition.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51Did you have to really put in a tough pitch
0:17:51 > 0:17:54to get it to Northern Ireland?
0:17:54 > 0:17:56Cos it's quite hard to get it out of London, isn't it?
0:17:56 > 0:18:00We haven't had this exhibition here since 1998.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03And it was really important that it came back to Belfast
0:18:03 > 0:18:06to allow our public to see it.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09I've heard so many people say that they travelled over to London
0:18:09 > 0:18:10to see the exhibition.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13Well, now they can come and see it here at the Ulster Museum.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16- Do you have favourites? - It's actually very difficult.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18A lot of people have asked me that, even
0:18:18 > 0:18:20when we were hanging the exhibition.
0:18:20 > 0:18:25It actually changes, because such a variety of different styles
0:18:25 > 0:18:29and different compositions that the artists have used.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Depending on my mood, that's when I sort of look and go,
0:18:32 > 0:18:35"Well, I really like you today."
0:18:35 > 0:18:38I change my mind the next time I'm in.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49You'll probably miss them as well, whenever they're gone.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51Yes, we will miss them.
0:18:51 > 0:18:56It allows different audiences to engage with this contemporary art
0:18:56 > 0:18:59and, in particular, obviously, portraiture.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05Kim, thank you very much.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Now, I have always loved reading, ever
0:19:09 > 0:19:11since my mum took me to the local library as a child.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15And it's something I handed on to my own children, too.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17It's really great to know that children here have
0:19:17 > 0:19:21their reading backs covered by not one, but two Children's Laureates.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23British Children's Laureate Chris Riddell is
0:19:23 > 0:19:25the writer of the Goth Girl series.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29And Eoin Colfer of Artemis Fowl fame is his Irish counterpart,
0:19:29 > 0:19:31the Laureate na nOg.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34I met with these two super heroes of storytelling in a recent
0:19:34 > 0:19:37flying visit to Belfast.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39Gentleman, welcome.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42As Children's Laureates, which one of you do you feel has
0:19:42 > 0:19:45- the best bling for your chain of office?- Well...
0:19:45 > 0:19:48I have a recurring nightmare that I put it on and wear it.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50A) I forget I'm wearing it.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53I'm on public transport looking ludicrous.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57Or I put it down inadvertently and walk away and lose it.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01At which point, I'd have to resign in disgrace.
0:20:01 > 0:20:02Well, I gave mine to my son.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06He's doing rubbings, so he likes to do them, he's like, the little rubbing...
0:20:06 > 0:20:08Banksy rubbings, all over Dublin!
0:20:08 > 0:20:10- With your bling!- With the laureate bling.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14Is there a difference between the British and the Irish Laureate?
0:20:14 > 0:20:20I love the children's book culture in both the UK and in Ireland.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23- It's a very close one.- Is there a difference though?
0:20:23 > 0:20:25Well, it's an interesting one...
0:20:25 > 0:20:30I think they're going together, as more and more Irish Art graduates and artists kind of go out into
0:20:30 > 0:20:33the world, and it's kind of a golden age for us at the moment.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37Recent research would say that children are reading more than ever.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41- Yeah.- So the demise of children's books would be greatly exaggerated?
0:20:41 > 0:20:45The oft-heralded demise! I think every time some new form of
0:20:45 > 0:20:48media comes on, the death knell is tolled for children's books.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53And, you know, whether it's the theatre or home cinema,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56or movies or DVD or the internet, and it never happens.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59And in fact, picture books, especially, are stronger than ever,
0:20:59 > 0:21:01stronger than ever.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04And they never took a hit from e-books, which I think is fantastic.
0:21:04 > 0:21:10How do you navigate though the noise that is out there with technology in our digital age?
0:21:10 > 0:21:12I think you embrace it.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14I think you actually...
0:21:14 > 0:21:16People who love books talk about books,
0:21:16 > 0:21:21they blog about books, they'll post things on the various social networking sites.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25It becomes a community and one's invited in to talk about that
0:21:25 > 0:21:27and that's a lovely thing.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29Because you're very good on social media,
0:21:29 > 0:21:31particularly with your "Doodle a Day".
0:21:31 > 0:21:36Yes, I post these up on social media, on my Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr,
0:21:36 > 0:21:39so that people can see what I'm doing or what I'm not doing, sometimes.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43- Have you embraced the digital age? - Um, a little bit.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47I do like that if there's a book group in Virginia who would
0:21:47 > 0:21:50love to have you come over, but you can't,
0:21:50 > 0:21:54you can do FaceTime with them, or you can make them a little video.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56And I make a lot of little videos for people and send them off.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00And that's just a little way to use the technology,
0:22:00 > 0:22:02which I totally agree with Chris on.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05There is no point in not embracing it.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07So I try to embrace as much as possible.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11Well, I lived pre-internet, which is the Stone Age for my children.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14- What books were you reading? - Clive King, Stig Of The Dump.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Yes, I remember very clearly thinking, "All right, that's it.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19"I want to write a story like this."
0:22:19 > 0:22:23But it very definitely changed my outlook on life.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25It's quite a sort of obscure book.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29It was called Agaton Sax And The Jewel Thieves.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31And I thought, "Ooh, looks interesting!"
0:22:31 > 0:22:34- I picked it up, far too difficult for me, but it had illustrations. - Yeah.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37So I started to read as well as I could, Agaton Sax.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40Struggled through it, got to the end and I thought,
0:22:40 > 0:22:44"Peter and Jane are dead to me. I want another Agaton Sax."
0:22:44 > 0:22:48- And so I went off to the library and found one.- Like Tony Soprano! - THEY LAUGH
0:22:48 > 0:22:52Do you feel the responsibility of children's authors
0:22:52 > 0:22:54to reflect children's lives?
0:22:54 > 0:23:00Or are you just interested in escape and firing their imaginations?
0:23:02 > 0:23:04All that and more.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06I think you want to reflect...
0:23:06 > 0:23:08I think stories contain truth, you know?
0:23:08 > 0:23:10And that's why we love stories.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12They can reflect our experiences,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16they can be windows into other people's experiences.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18I think books are wonderful, empathic things
0:23:18 > 0:23:21where you learn about the world around you
0:23:21 > 0:23:24and you learn about worlds you're yet to experience.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27And they can also take you to amazing places.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31I love this phrase the Book Trust use, which says,
0:23:31 > 0:23:34"It's not a book, it's a door."
0:23:34 > 0:23:36And I love that.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38You know, it is a doorway into somewhere else.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42So you pick up a book, it's shaped like a door, you can enter another place and another reality.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44Why do you think children are still reading?
0:23:44 > 0:23:47If you get a child to read, they are reading for life.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49They're not going to stop.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51It's like I often say to kids,
0:23:51 > 0:23:54"Imagine you go to Disneyland and the gates open
0:23:54 > 0:23:58"and you say, 'Well, I'm not going to go on any of those rides over there.'
0:23:58 > 0:24:01"And you say, 'No, it's great fun! And it's, 'No, I don't want to go on any of those rides!'"
0:24:01 > 0:24:04That's what it is like, saying you're not going to read a book.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08It's like you're at the gates of Disneyland and you decide, "No, I'm not going on the rides."
0:24:08 > 0:24:10So, you know, read the book and be happy forever.
0:24:18 > 0:24:23Two tellers of tall tales, Eoin and Chris.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27And they are champions of the BBC's new Get Reading campaign,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30which launches this month with the Shakespeare Festival.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34There'll be numerous events across radio, TV and online
0:24:34 > 0:24:36to get the nation reading.
0:24:36 > 0:24:41We're back on air, BBC Radio Ulster, Tuesdays to Fridays at 6.30
0:24:41 > 0:24:44and online for extra material.
0:24:44 > 0:24:45Some music now.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50Jealous Of The Birds is the alias of the Armagh singer-songwriter, Naomi Hamilton.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54She's currently artist-in-residence of this year's Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival
0:24:54 > 0:24:58and her debut album, Parma Violets is out on the 6th of May.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02Here she is, recorded exclusively for The Arts Show.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22# She said, I'm blue
0:25:22 > 0:25:25# As a robin's egg
0:25:27 > 0:25:33# I've done nothing to make me proud
0:25:34 > 0:25:42# I rehearse conversations in
0:25:42 > 0:25:48# The shower when I am home alone
0:25:50 > 0:25:56# No-one has ever bought me flowers
0:25:58 > 0:26:06# Or smoked a joint on my Persian rug
0:26:06 > 0:26:10# Go to Mexico
0:26:10 > 0:26:14# And lie under a mango tree
0:26:14 > 0:26:18# And watch a line of crows
0:26:18 > 0:26:25# Grace the southern breeze, but you won't know where they go
0:26:26 > 0:26:32# Everything just scatters out like acorns in the snow
0:26:34 > 0:26:38# Or dust clouds in a drought
0:26:55 > 0:26:59# She said (she said) I care (I care)
0:26:59 > 0:27:02# Too much these days
0:27:03 > 0:27:11# About (about) my place (My place) in this ball of yarn
0:27:11 > 0:27:18# There's not (there's not) a lot (a lot) that I can boast
0:27:18 > 0:27:25# I water (I water) plants and make French Toast
0:27:27 > 0:27:35# And muse (and muse) like some (like some) old misanthrope
0:27:35 > 0:27:38# Afraid (afraid) to sow (to sow)
0:27:38 > 0:27:42# All my wild oats
0:27:43 > 0:27:47# Read Walt Whitman poems
0:27:47 > 0:27:51# Drink a bottle of Champagne
0:27:51 > 0:27:54# And sing some Leonard Cohen
0:27:54 > 0:27:59# I love it when he speaks so plain
0:27:59 > 0:28:02# The way you often do
0:28:02 > 0:28:06# When I am crying after midnight
0:28:06 > 0:28:10# Just between us two
0:28:10 > 0:28:16# It makes me smile to know you're all right. #