Meanwhile back at the ranch -

It is time for the festival office to get moving on the festival blog - if CBI programme officer Tom Donegan can blog and drive across the country at the same time, then its time for the rest of the CBI team to get blogging!

The office is particularly busy this week.  Following the launch event last week, we are fielding lots of media calls, general public enquiries as well as tracking the odd wayward pack of festival materials.  There has been a huge amount of interest from schools this week and many are planning events and activities before the mid term break to celebrate books and reading - such is the demand we've run out of festival badges and pencils.  Still plenty of posters, reading guides and postcards to share though!

Reports of events are reaching our ears all the time - it is great to hear how well they went - keep sending us on feedback and comments. There are days when we are itching to get out to see an event but we have to hold back and keep manning the phones.  We are hoping to get up to meet Andy Stanton  in Drogheda tomorrow evening for at least a quick cuppa and we are looking forward to that.

The festival is really core to CBI - it is a very clear expression of what we truly believe - that children all over Ireland deserve access to the best book events possible. With this in mind we're really excited that we are about to start a major new piece of research - CBI and Book Communications will be working together to document the scale and extent of book based events for young people not just as part of the festival but throughout all of 2007.  We will be talking to authors, illustrators, arts centres, libraries, bookshops, publishers and other programmers who are involved in events. If you would like to contribute, please do contact me.

For the moment - better get back to the festival office - happy festival to all

Mags Walsh, CBI Director