I was born and grew up on the West coast of Ireland. I read English at University College Cork, then completed a Higher Diploma in Education, specialising in Children's Literature, then completed an MA (a Feminist Reading of Ann Radcliffe's Gothic Novel The Mysteries of Udolpho).
Publishing
I taught in Cork city for a few years, but my MA had developed my interet in publishing, so I moved to London.
My first job was in Educational Publisher, NFER-Nelson where I edited the UK's first SAT tests. Then I moved into Children’s Trade Publishing and worked as an editor at Child’s Play, Victoria House–Readers Digest, and Frances Lincoln, before being invited to start a new English-language list for Italian publishers DeAgostini – De Agostini Editions UK. When the adult section of the list shut down, with my colleage Andrew Macmillan, I completed a buy-out to create independent children's publisher, Zero To Ten.
Outreach Community Librarian
When Zero to Ten was taken over by Evans brothers, I decided to return to working directly with children for a while.
As part of a Family and Community team, I worked as an Outreach Community Librarian with deprived families in West London. I was happy to combine my interest in child development with hands-on book work as I ran Baby Groups, Rhyme times, Nurture Groups, Family Reading and Toddler sessions in Acton Library – encouraging young children and their families to join the library, to read books and to support development, especially around language and literacy.
Publishing, packaging and writing
During this time, I continued to work in publishing on a freelance basis.
I always enjoyed pulling together the right creative team to work on a book, so I packaged a number of titles: for Ragged Bears (UK), Annick Press (Canada), Lion-Hudson (UK) and d-Books (Korea). I developed ideas and texts for Caterpillar-Little Tiger and CHORION-Enid Blyton. I also wrote a number of picture books – published by Barefoot Books (UK), Chicken House (UK) and O’Brien Press (Ireland).
Alanna Books – Alanna Max
In 2006, wrote a picture book called Lulu Loves the Library and commissioned sample illustrations by Rosalind Beardshaw. My intention was to package it for a publisher. As things happened, I sold the US rights to Charlesbridge in Boston, and Arvids and Luister in Denmark and Netherlands respectively. This left the UK & Ireland rights available, and I created a new, small publisher called Alanna Books to publish it. I added a select list of inclusive titles – some developed, and some bought from France, Denmark and Japan.
Alanna Books was shortlisted for the Alison Morrison Diversity Award by the Independent Publishers’ Guild in 2015.
Lulu Loves the Library was very successful and there were requests from my co-edition partners to develop Lulu into a series. I did this and in 2014 added little brother Zeki who now has his own (separate) series. The series has additionally been licensed in China, Korea, Brazil and Sweden.
In 2018, I joined forces with Ken Wilson-Max and Fay Erek to create Alanna Max.
This enabled me to return to the wilderness of Kerry and concentrate on writing and creating. The Lulu and Zeki books initially dominated my creative time – following positive sales during lockdown, Charlesbridge and Alanna Max signed a 10-book contract in 2022 for four Lulu books and six Zeki books by 2025.
Cuasnóg
Now, with those titles delivered (in time and on budget) I can turn my attention to developing ideas that have fallen by the wayside. Lulu and Zeki will continue, but without the intensity fo the past few years. I look forward to having more time to write.
As an editor and publisher, I've always enjoyed creating concepts – putting together writers and illustrators, or working with publishers to help develop new ideas or to deliver complete packaged titles. So, in addition to my own texts, I look forward to also creating projects with other writers and illustrators, and working with publishers, as Cuasnóg, to create new exciting things.
I will also be tending my bees.
Publishing
I taught in Cork city for a few years, but my MA had developed my interet in publishing, so I moved to London.
My first job was in Educational Publisher, NFER-Nelson where I edited the UK's first SAT tests. Then I moved into Children’s Trade Publishing and worked as an editor at Child’s Play, Victoria House–Readers Digest, and Frances Lincoln, before being invited to start a new English-language list for Italian publishers DeAgostini – De Agostini Editions UK. When the adult section of the list shut down, with my colleage Andrew Macmillan, I completed a buy-out to create independent children's publisher, Zero To Ten.
Outreach Community Librarian
When Zero to Ten was taken over by Evans brothers, I decided to return to working directly with children for a while.
As part of a Family and Community team, I worked as an Outreach Community Librarian with deprived families in West London. I was happy to combine my interest in child development with hands-on book work as I ran Baby Groups, Rhyme times, Nurture Groups, Family Reading and Toddler sessions in Acton Library – encouraging young children and their families to join the library, to read books and to support development, especially around language and literacy.
Publishing, packaging and writing
During this time, I continued to work in publishing on a freelance basis.
I always enjoyed pulling together the right creative team to work on a book, so I packaged a number of titles: for Ragged Bears (UK), Annick Press (Canada), Lion-Hudson (UK) and d-Books (Korea). I developed ideas and texts for Caterpillar-Little Tiger and CHORION-Enid Blyton. I also wrote a number of picture books – published by Barefoot Books (UK), Chicken House (UK) and O’Brien Press (Ireland).
Alanna Books – Alanna Max
In 2006, wrote a picture book called Lulu Loves the Library and commissioned sample illustrations by Rosalind Beardshaw. My intention was to package it for a publisher. As things happened, I sold the US rights to Charlesbridge in Boston, and Arvids and Luister in Denmark and Netherlands respectively. This left the UK & Ireland rights available, and I created a new, small publisher called Alanna Books to publish it. I added a select list of inclusive titles – some developed, and some bought from France, Denmark and Japan.
Alanna Books was shortlisted for the Alison Morrison Diversity Award by the Independent Publishers’ Guild in 2015.
Lulu Loves the Library was very successful and there were requests from my co-edition partners to develop Lulu into a series. I did this and in 2014 added little brother Zeki who now has his own (separate) series. The series has additionally been licensed in China, Korea, Brazil and Sweden.
In 2018, I joined forces with Ken Wilson-Max and Fay Erek to create Alanna Max.
This enabled me to return to the wilderness of Kerry and concentrate on writing and creating. The Lulu and Zeki books initially dominated my creative time – following positive sales during lockdown, Charlesbridge and Alanna Max signed a 10-book contract in 2022 for four Lulu books and six Zeki books by 2025.
Cuasnóg
Now, with those titles delivered (in time and on budget) I can turn my attention to developing ideas that have fallen by the wayside. Lulu and Zeki will continue, but without the intensity fo the past few years. I look forward to having more time to write.
As an editor and publisher, I've always enjoyed creating concepts – putting together writers and illustrators, or working with publishers to help develop new ideas or to deliver complete packaged titles. So, in addition to my own texts, I look forward to also creating projects with other writers and illustrators, and working with publishers, as Cuasnóg, to create new exciting things.
I will also be tending my bees.
Tullig
|