DarkIsle was inspired by a huge stone dragon that overlooks Irvine Beach on Scotland’s west coast. The sculpture was created by the artist Roy Fitzsimmons, and was built using stone from the demolition of an old railway bridge.

In view of the location, Strident launched a major competition for schools in the North Ayrshire area, working in tandem with the area’s hugely energetic Education Resource Service. In all, 14 schools took part.

Each school was given an extract from the book and pupils from P4 –6 were invited to submit an entry in one of three categories; a piece of written work, a piece of artwork, or something on a recycling theme.

The entries were of such an extremely high standard that the team found it really tough picking the winning entries! The winners then attended a launch at The Harbour Arts Centre in Irvine where they received first edition copies of the novel, signed in person by D A Nelson. The winning entries were displayed in a special exhibition that the staff at The HAC kindly helped put together.