Patricia Forde, Laureate na nÓg, will deliver her final lecture as part of the Whole Wild World Tour North on Friday evening, 27 February, in Belfast. The event includes the launch of 'Northern Lights', a curated reading guide highlighting books by artists from or based in Northern Ireland.

The tour involved workshops led by Forde and local authors and illustrators, engaging children and young people in discussions about books. Visits occurred at schools, bookshops, libraries, and cultural spaces in Belfast, Derry~Londonderry, Coleraine, Rathlin Island, Ballycastle, Ballymena, and Bellaghy.

'Northern Lights' features 44 book recommendations in English and Irish, published in the last five years, suitable for readers aged 0-18. The guide includes an introduction by Forde and Frank Cottrell-Boyce, with cover illustration by Belfast artist Mel Carroll from his 2025 picturebook 'A Belfast Fairytale'.

Authors and illustrators on the tour included Ashwin Chacko, Paul Howard, Neil Sharpson, Sadhbh Devlin, Andrew Whitson, Máire Zepf, Alan Nolan, Judith McQuoid, Flora Delargy, Clive McFarland, Derek Keilty, Dave Rudden, Sue Divin, Shirley-Anne McMillan, Eoin Colfer, and Oliver Jeffers.

Shirley-Anne McMillan, Children's Writing Fellow for Northern Ireland, joined Forde on the tour. Her book 'Grapefruit Moon' is featured in 'Northern Lights'. The fellowship forms part of the Seamus Heaney Legacy project by Queen's University Belfast and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.