Eileen O'Hely

Children’s Author

Aisling and Amelia Book Launch

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Just like budding ballerina Aisling, on Saturday April 27 I combed my hair into a neat bun, packed up some craft and headed to Quick Brown Fox Bookshop in Grange to launch my latest picture book, Aisling and Amelia. Aisling and Amelia is the story of two dancers. Aisling is able-bodied and Amelia has a limb difference. (I chose the name “Amelia” because there is a condition called “Amelia” when a baby is born without fully formed limbs.)

When I arrived at Quick Brown Fox I was delighted to see how Anna and Theresa had decorated the shop for the launch. There was a wall of Aisling and Amelia books, a cute sign and the displays had been pushed aside to fit lots of chairs and a pink rug to match the colour scheme of the book. Renata who would be MCing the event was resplendent in a tutu and rocketship earrings to mark the occasion of the launch.

Then the people started arriving. First illustrator Chloe Finnis who I had only met for the first time the week before, and many of her family who had made the long drive up from the Gold Coast, Nico O’Sullivan who is illustrating a graphic novel for me (I cannot reveal the name of the book just yet!), fellow Hawkeye authors and publisher Carolyn Martinez, my tap dancing buddies, other family and friends, and most curious of all, PEOPLE I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW! It was getting quite squishy with standing room only, but luckily Renata and I had chairs to sit on – although Renata did abandon her chair at one point to do a spectacular one-off dance performance.

I would like to extend a very big thank you to Theresa and Anna at Quick Brown Fox Bookshop in Grange for hosting the event, and to Renata from The Endless Shelf kidlit podcast for being such a wonderful MC.

Japanese Research Trip

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Sculpted trees in Yudanaka

Okay. It was more of a holiday than a research trip, but as a writer everything I experience informs my work.

This concept is voiced by a character in a draft I’m working on. My character (a nerdy and embarrassing dad) has a creative career which allows him to accompany his globe-trotting academic wife on her overseas trips: as long as he has access to an internet connection to upload work to his editor by the due date, he can work from anywhere in the world. (Sound familiar?)

One of the family’s adventures takes place in Japan. Now, a month ago I had never been to Japan, but I have a BA double majoring in Japanese and Italian, so a reasonable understanding of the country and culture. Plus Google Street View allowed me to go there virtually and concoct most of my story.

However, when I got to Japan I realised I have to rewrite some of my current manuscript because:

1. Credit cards are not widely accepted (so my junior protagonist can’t rely on a debit mastercard for buying sushi)

2. There are heaps of English announcements on trains (so it’s possible to navigate the public transport system without a thorough understanding of spoken and written Japanese )

3. Unlike the Italian Frecciarossa, the Shinkansen (bullet train) doesn’t have a little light-up panel inside the carriage displaying its speed.

Despite trips to Tokyo Disneyland, the Warner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour and the incredibly amazing Snow Monkey Park where you get to amble amongst wild snow monkeys, the highlight for me was visiting the scene where the climax of my book takes place: the Kishimojin Temple, where families worship the goddess of safe childbirth and child rearing. It’s certainly not one of the main temples on the tourist route, but I was very excited to see it for real, and even more excited to see a woman in a gorgeous kimono arrive with her husband and newborn for a ceremony!

The moral of this story is that while all my experiences inform my work, in this case my work informed my experience.