My Path to Publication: Féile by Emma Larkin
My path to publication has been long and meandering, but very enjoyable. I was that child that always wanted to be a writer and who wrote stories for fun. My favourite thing in primary school back in the late 1980s was when the teacher would give us an ‘essay’ to write for homework. Fiction only, please, no factual discursive type assignments for eleven-year-old me. I was also a voracious reader, everything from The Famous Five to Maeve Binchy with a bit of Bunty and Just Seventeen magazines in the middle.
I put my fiction writing dreams on the backburner as I travelled through my teenage years. I did a law degree in UCC when I left secondary school, where my previous dislike of factual writing started to evolve and I found that in fact, I enjoyed reading, interpreting and writing about case law. I didn’t end up practising in the legal arena, pivoting instead into a career in accountancy.
Marriage, four children and a move to Kerry (not all in that order) later and as I approached my fortieth birthday, I started to think about writing again. As my children were getting older, and becoming move involved in sport, especially Gaelic Games, I found myself drawn to helping out in our local GAA/LGFA clubs. With three sons, and one daughter playing sport, I soon noticed various inequalities between what was available to my sons and my daughter. This led me to reminisce about my grandmother’s sporting career back in the 1930s and 1940s. My maternal grandmother was Maureen Hennebry, (née Cashman). She was on the Cork camogie team which won the All-Ireland Camogie Championship three times in row between 1939 and 1941. She was part of the Cashman hurling dynasty from Blackrock in Cork. The male players from her family are often written and talked about but not so much the female players. In our house growing up, we always knew that Nana was big into the GAA and was often seen, even in her eighties, out pucking a sliotar around with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She is even mentioned in a poem by the famous Irish poet, Patrick Kavanagh, called ‘Camogie Match’. In hindsight, her achievements in sport are extraordinary and I regret not chatting to her properly about her experiences. Nana had her All-Ireland medals made into a bracelet and we used to play with this bracelet as young children.
So how does this tie into my path to publication? As I always tell the children I am lucky enough to chat to on school and library visits, I had a lightbulb moment. A moment that I now recognise as a slightly more experienced writer, that means, ‘write this idea down now!’ I love when these moments happen. Sometimes they lead to an actual book being published, not always, but it’s the lightbulb moment, the excitement of these ideas, the possibility, that keeps a writer going.
My lightbulb moment or idea was that:
1. There aren’t enough books for children in Ireland about Gaelic games.
2. There definitely aren’t enough books featuring female Gaelic games players. I could not find one book for my daughter who was seven at the time with a female Gaelic games player on the cover.
3. I can write this book; I can write a book about a fictional female character playing Gaelic games and I can pay homage to my grandmother by using her bracelet of All Ireland medals as a key plot feature that will take the character on magical sporting adventures.
This is how the ‘Izzy’s Magical Adventures in Sport’ series was born. Of course, my great idea, as I saw it, didn’t get picked up by any of the Irish publishers, so I pushed on regardless and jumped into the world of self-publishing. I found an amazing illustrator in the talented Paul Nugent and we have partnered on five Izzy books which are aimed at children age 4-8. I am proud to be able to provide young children in Ireland with a book about a character like themselves who adores playing sport and is brave, courageous and fun.
Sometime after the first two Izzy books had been published; after exchanging some messages with the fantastic Helen Carr in O’Brien Press, I was lucky enough to get a phone call from Michael O’Brien. Michael explained that he liked my Izzy books, and that O’Brien Press were looking for a Gaelic games-themed series for slightly older readers, the 8-12 category, middle grade as it is called. He asked if I would be interested in submitting an idea. I jumped at this chance, and after an interesting and engaging phone call with Michael where he suggested a male and female lead character, I came up with the idea of boy/girl twins, Aoife and Aidan Power, playing football as equals. O’Brien Press liked the idea, and the first Twin Power book was green lit.
I am forever grateful to Michael and all the team at O’Brien Press for giving me that opportunity. They took a chance on a relatively unknown writer, who had never written a 30,000-word book. I adore writing about Aoife and Aidan Power, their friends, and the world of Droichead Beag GAA. I wanted to give children a book about things that they know and love, which in this case are Gaelic football and friendship. I also wanted to show in the book the dynamic of a group of friends that consisted of boys and girls and how they interact and play football together, as equals. Twin Power: Throw In was published in March 2022. Twin Power: The Lost Cup was published in May 2023 and after a small break, Féile: A Twin Power Adventure is out now.
In Féile, Aoife, Aidan and all the Droichead Gang are back, along with some new characters. They are vying to qualify for the iconic Féile Gaelic Football competition. But how will Aoife and Aidan cope now that they are on separate boys and girls teams? And how will they fare against the talented New York Féile teams if they do make it that far?
I had so much fun researching Féile. I was really struck by the fond memories that Féile has for so many people. I was also fascinated to learn about the history of Gaelic games in New York and am very thankful to the various coaches and committee members both in Ireland and the USA who helped me with my research.
I am very excited for my young readers to read the latest instalment in the Twin Power series. The best part about being a writer is seeing my books bring joy to young people and I hope that they enjoy reading the third Twin Power book as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it!
About Féile by Emma Larkin:
Aoife and Aidan Power love playing Gaelic Football. Together, they’re so skilful and fast their friends call them ‘Twin Power’.
Twins Aoife and Aidan Power would love nothing more than to play at the famous Féile Gaelic Football Competition.
With old football rivalries stronger than ever and new ones emerging, can they make their dream come true?
Order your copy of Féile online here.
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