<p>Starting her career writing technical reports in the scientific and environmental fields, she never imagined writing anything else. However, having two children, a boy and a girl in elementary school, she found herself getting called upon to make up stories when they ran out of books to read or were simply bored.</p>
<p>One night when her kids had nothing new to read, her son Michael started to write a story for his sister Emer about her favourite bedtime toy Owly, a pet owl. What he started to write, sparked an interest in writing after they begged me to write a story about Owly and his adventures.</p>
<p>When I was asked about what makes this series different from other children’s stories, Orla says, “As a mother, I strongly believe we need to nurture our children but yet equip them with life skills that will help develop them personally. These books are positive, uplifting and teach children through a story about bravery, overcoming challenges, looking out for each other, helping each other, appreciating all the good things in our lives, taking care of our environment and making the world a better place to live. Each book builds on the previous one and is set in the world of a bunch of unlikely forest friends. I really do believe that both young in age and young at heart will enjoy these imaginative and creative stories as much as I enjoyed creating them.”</p>
