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. 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. 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.
