THE popular Gravespeakers’ series of children’s books, which has developed a cult following in the South West of Ireland, is one step closer to coming alive on the big screen.

A 3-5 minute animated trailer of the first book in the series, Gravespeakers: Maria, is under development by a team of students at the IT Tralee, in County Kerry.

Tralee-based author Anthony Garvey, will work closely with final year animation students, Niall O’Shea and Darragh Horgan, under the watchful supervision of Marty Boylan, Lisa McElligott and Rosie Dempsey, from the IT Tralee’s Creative Media Department.

There are six books in the Gravespeakers’ series, aimed at children between 8-12 years of age.  Garvey says a film or TV deal for the Gravespeakers’ series was front of mind when he began writing the book series three years ago:

“I decided to build a following for the books by visiting over 50 primary schools in 18 months,” Garvey said. “The reaction was phenomenal. I didn’t want to get bogged down with contracts and negotiations, so I self-published the series, sidestepping discussions with agents and publishers, allowing me to focus exclusively on delivering the finished product.”

Each Gravespeakers book tells the story of a different child, as they discover their special gift: they can communicate with the dead!

“Darragh and I will tell Maria’s story on the eve of her 18th birthday, as she revisits key moments in the book from her childhood,” said IT Tralee student, Niall O’ Shea. “We were drawn to the project because of its clever combination of dark and light and because of our ability to bring those themes to life on screen. The idea is to use the trailer to showcase the potential for the book series, but also to enter it into film festivals around the world.”

Marty Boylan, a lecturer at the IT Tralee and the course leader for animation, said the project was one of several collaborations underway between the college and businesses:

“We encourage our students to work with industry, SMEs and non profit organisations on challenging and rewarding opportunities,” Boylan said.

“Animation, Visual Effects, and Motion Design was only recently established at the IT Tralee in 2015, with our first crop of graduates emerging last year.  All of the students from our class of 2019 are currently employed in the industry which reflects well on the quality of the course and the lecturers.”