Sisters create children’s book

Two sisters have collaborated across the Atlantic to create a children’s book for charity.

Nollaig Rowan, a child psychologist and writer who divides her time between Sherkin Island and Dublin, has collaborated with her sister, Olivia Rowan, a New York-based architect and illustrator, to create a charming counting book for children called ‘One Old Ostrich, Two Terrible Tigers’.

All European profits from the book go to LauraLynn Ireland’s Children’s Hospice and in the USA to the Line 3 Defense Fund.

Written by Nollaig and illustrated by Olivia, the book evolved as a lockdown project, as Nollaig explains: “My sister was always drawing cartoons and pictures; I was always writing rhymes and stories. I suppose you could say that it was inevitable that our crafts would come together some day, but it took a world pandemic to make it happen.”

She continued: “I had moved to Sherkin Island in West Cork during the first lockdown and what should have been a time of great writing productivity, was somehow a period of despair and lack of focus. Olivia’s architectural work had quietened down due to the pandemic, so she suggested that we could resurrect a children’s book project we had started years ago and work collaboratively on it via Zoom.”

“What previously might have seemed like an obstacle – she lives in New York and I was living on Sherkin Island - was suddenly no bother due to good internet connections – and we had plenty of creative time on our hands,” she concluded. This delightful children’s book will appeal to under five year olds as it features catchy counting rhymes and whimsical water colour illustrations.

‘One Old Ostrich, Two Terrible Tigers’ is available for €12 plus post and packaging via theostrichbooks.com or email the.ostrich.books@gmail.com.