It's pronounced Ash-lynn. Ash-lyn O'Lock-lin (it's Irish, that's why it's doesn't sound anything like it looks). Don't worry, I don't mind if you get it wrong. I like hearing what people come up with. Ayzlyn is pretty, Acelyn sounds a little badass and awesome, Asslin ... well, maybe not so much. Don't worry though - I know it's a toughie, that's why most people just call me Ash .Feel free to be one of them, by the way. Now, on to:
The Boring Biog Stuff
I'm coming back to writing after a looong break (I'll blog about that later).
I wrote my first book, Cinderella's Fella, when I was 13. It was published when I was 15, making me Ireland’s youngest published children’s author for a while (at least until 12 year-old Claire Hennessy wrote the brilliant Dear Diary, published in 2000). My second book, A Right Royal Pain: Rumplestiltskin, The True Story came out when I was 16, and was selected for the International Youth Library’s prestigious White Raven catalogue, which was a huge honour! I co-adapted the screenplay for a feature film called How to Cheat in The Leaving Certificate while taking my Junior Cert exams, and by the time I'd finished Secondary School (that's High school to all you non-Irish folks) I’d written and published three more books. My sixth book, Worms Can’t Fly (co-written with my Dad, Larry) was the best-selling Irish children’s poetry book of 2000 and poems from the collection have been published internationally.
I've worked all over Ireland as a storyteller and creative writing teacher. I've also written for stage and radio - and even dabbled in stand-up comedy (badly!) supporting renowned Irish comic Ardal O’Hanlon in 2007. I moved to Toronto in 2009 with my awesome scientist-by-day/rockstar-by-night husband (henceforth known as Dr D), and when I'm not writing, I spend my free time indulging my love of B-movies and cult classics at the Bloor Cinema.
The Big Bad Me trilogy is my first series of book for Young Adults and it's a lot of fun to write. In case you're curious, here's what else I've done:
Children’s books:
- Cinderella’s Fella (Wolfhound Press, 1995)
- A Right Royal Pain: Rumpelstiltskin, The True Story (Wolfhound Press, 1996)
- Shak and the Beanstalk (Wolfhound Press, 1997)
- The Emperor’s Birthday Suit (Wolfhound Press, 1997)
- Fionn the Cool (Wolfhound Press, 1998)
- Worms Can’t Fly (Wolfhound Press, 2000 - with Larry O’Loughlin).
- Spotlight on Fact: Comic Book Heroes (non-fiction, Harper Collins, 2004)
Other Stuff:
- How To Cheat in The Leaving Certificate (adapted screenplay – with Graham Jones and Tadgh O’Higgins. Feature film, released in 1997)
- El Kid (published in From Two Islands: Short Stories From Ireland and Australia, Wolfhound Press, Ireland / New Arts Press, Australia, 2000)
- Mozart: A Muse’s Tail Three-part radio comedy series for RTÉ Lyric FM (broadcast 2001)
- Iago Six-part black-comedy version of Othello (in Speakeasy magazine, France, 2001)
- Iago (stage-play) Black-comedy version of Othello performed by UCD Dramsoc in 2001, and at the Helix, Dublin in 2007.
- Txt U L8R (poem - published in Something Beginning with P, O’Brien Press, 2004; reproduced in Wordplay 1, Gill&MacMillian and Exercise Your English, Edco - both in 2010)
And that's me!
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