An award-winning illustrator from Northern Ireland is behind a new coin to mark the Chinese Year of the Rat.

PJ Lynch who was born in Belfast and lives in Dublin designed the coin featuring a rat with a set of long twitchy whiskers.

Lynch is famous for his children's books and has served as Laureate na nÓg - or all-Ireland children's laureate.

He has won Kate Greenaway medals, the Mother Goose Award and the Christopher Medal.

PJ Lynch said he felt "very honoured" and "very lucky" to have been asked to design what is the latest coin in the Royal Mint's ShengxiàoCollection.

"When I was invited to submit a design, I thought I'm not mad about rats and rodents generally scare the life out of me," he said.

"But I did a lot of research and met a lot of people who are mad about rats and learned about how intelligent they are and the qualities they have.

"It made me look afresh and I made lots of drawings."

PJ Lynch has created everything from posters for Opera Ireland and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin to several sets of Irish stamps.

He also designed a giant mosaic for the Catholic Marian Shrine in Knock, County Mayo.

He lives in Dublin with his wife and three children.

The Year of the Rat starts on 25 January and is the first sign of the Chinese Zodiac.

While intelligence and optimism are said to be traits of those who share the sign, they may also have deep pockets.

The five ounce gold version of the coin is now fully reserved, despite costing £9,995.

But there are other coins available ranging from about £2,000 to just £13.

To read the complete article, see:
Belfast artist PJ Lynch designs Chinese New Year coin(https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-50971500)