Author writes a fairytale with a distinctively Cork twist

A CORK author-illustrator has produced a new children’s book that takes young readers on a fun-filled trip around her native country.

Amy Louise O’Callaghan is from Liscarroll in North Cork and is looking forward to seeing A Cork Fairytale – a modern take on the well-known tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears – on shelves from May 6.

She’s currently based in Dublin and, as well as working full-time in film education the last few years, she’s been freelancing as an illustrator since 2019.

Among the many projects Amy Louise has been involved in are her Irish Mythology Tarot Deck and self-published comics.

The Cork woman was approached by The O’Brien Press to take on the book project.

“They already have a series of picture books celebrating various cities in Ireland, such as A Dublin Fairytale, A Galway Fairytale and A Limerick Fairytale and were looking to do one set in Cork.

So they approached me with the idea in the 2022 and I got to work creating the story and characters and getting it ready to pitch!

A Cork Fairytale follows Goldilocks, a young girl living in Cork city, who is one day whisked away by the Bears to buy a gift for a special friend. They need three things - pretty flowers, tickets to a show and something tasty, and they travel all around Cork city and county to find what they need, including the River Lee, the Shandon Bells, the Everyman theatre, the English Market, UCC, Fitzgerald’s Park, Shakey Bridge, Cobh, Blarney Castle, Blackrock Castle Observatory and beyond.

The process was very different to what she was used to, Amy Louise admits.

While I always thought it would be fun to write and illustrate a picture book, it definitely took me a bit to learn the best way to write and phrase parts of the story so that it’s fun for kids to read.

“It was great to take the well-known tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and turn it into something different and modern, and the writing process was definitely helped by me sitting down and wondering where in Cork I would like the characters to go.

“A lot of the locations are places I love to go myself, or what I picture when I think of Cork, so it was a really good exercise to think about what the characters would do in the different places and respond to that, and build the story around the locations. In a way, that was a unique challenge in itself as I mainly focus on folklore and fantasy, so writing and drawing something set in the modern world was very new to me,” she said.

The true-to-life detail in the book’s illustrations are impressive, and not surprisingly that’s what took her the longest.

“The page showing the English Market took about 10 hours, but that’s because I was having too much fun drawing bread and cakes, so not a bad problem to have!” she said.

Amy Louise is beyond excited to see her project ‘come to life’ in bookshelves.

“The thought that my book will be sold alongside so many authors and illustrators I know and respect is surreal. I remember spending all day queuing to meet Jacqueline Wilson in Waterstones in Patrick Street when I was little, so it will feel particularly special getting to see the book in there,” she said.

Inspired by everything from mythology and folktales to her favourite animated films, she already has lots of ideas for future projects.

“I’ll be finishing up full-time work soon and hoping to focus on pulling together some new stories and ideas. I’ve a couple in my head, so I’m really looking forward to sitting down and properly putting it to paper. 

I’ve a huge passion for Irish mythology and folklore, so would really love to delve into that in any shape or form.

For now, though, she just hopes people like her characters and worlds as much as she enjoyed making it.

The book is out on May 6.