Irvine Bay's 'dragon' firmly on the map

‘DarkIsle’, the debut novel by D A Nelson, has triumphed in the 2008 Royal Mail Scottish Children’s Book Awards winning the category for 8-11 year olds. The £3,000 prize was presented in Aberdeen at the Beach Ballroom by Kirsty Wark, and the winning books were announced by Maureen Watt MSP - Minister for Schools and Skills.

‘DarkIsle’ was inspired by the stone dragon sculpture overlooking Irvine Beach.

Prior to its official publication, the book was piloted with two groups of schoolchildren from Abbey and Whitehirst Park Primaries in North Ayrshire in conjunction with the area’s Primary Education Resource Service. 

D A Nelson made the news last year when Strident Publishing, based in Glasgow, signed her up.

Since its launch in September 2007, DarkIsle has achieved significant success. Random House have bought the rights for several of their territories and launched it in hardback in the USA on November 11th 2008. Japanese, Korean, German and Italian editions are lined up, and a Spanish translation is already selling well.

DarkIsle is the story of a 10 year old girl’s quest to save a mystical land from an evil warlock. Aided by a talking dodo and rat, they free a dragon who has been turned to stone to guide them to the invisible homeland of the warlock – the dark isle of the title.  It is a thrilling adventure, with a distinctive sense of humour.

Keith Charters, Strident’s founder, says, “We are over the moon for D.A. Nelson and we thank all the children who voted for DarkIsle in such numbers. We’re so grateful they have shown their appreciation in this way. D.A. Nelson is delighted and honoured to have won such a prestigious prize for her first novel.”