The charming new book ‘ A Posy of Wildflowers’ was written by Eileen Moynihan. A children's book of poetry by Eileen Moynihan about wild flowers and trees found in Ireland, with Irish names added. It is illustrated with fabulous flower fairies painted by Angela Corkery. The magical cover is by Dan Flynn, photographed by Sally Martin. A book to treasure and keep.

This is Eileen’s story of how the book came to be:

Well over a year ago, I was admiring the photographs taken by my friend, Margaret O'Driscoll. They were beautiful pictures of wild flowers and trees from around her home in West Cork. They gave me an idea: wouldn't it be lovely to write poems about wild flowers and trees? Poems for children, but which adults could enjoy as well. As I started to write, I remembered reading books about flower fairies when I was young. I knew the ideal person to do  illustrations of flower fairies to accompany the poems, my sister, Angela Corkery, who from her youth has been a brilliant artist. When Margaret, Angela and I met to discuss the project, one could feel the creative magic in the air. This cemented the relationship between us.

I researched each poem I wrote to give a bit of the background and history of each plant. Here’s an example of one:

Forget-Me-Not  (Lus Míonla)

Please remember forget-me-not,
Sky-blue flowers with yellow dot
Blooming sweetly in earthy plot.

Flowers cluster on hairy stem,
Pointed leaves look well with them.
Forget-me-not you little gem.

You remind us of love we knew,
Friends and family who said adieu;
Love will always live with you.

Angela read each poem, taking elements from them, along with her own research, to shape her artwork. Thanks also to Rose Moran who contributed to the editing of the poetry. Her deep knowledge was much appreciated. She is also a friend and a member of Longford Writers Group We then thought about a cover and I asked my friend, Dan Flynn, if he would be willing to try, as he has done a few covers for books prepared by members of the Longford Writers Group, of which we are both members. He agreed on the understanding his work was accepted as a contribution to the project. 

Another friend and member of the group, Sally Martin, photographed Dan's cover design to  prepare it for printing..This has been a collaboration of love for what we do and an appreciation of the concept of the book: seek wonder in the world around you.

Eileen Moynihan was born in Essex England, and grew up on the Isle of Wight from the age of three. At the age of 22 she moved permanently to Ireland, where she lived in West Cork, and more recently on the border of counties Roscommon and Longford. For most of that time she was teaching children with special needs, and raising her three children with her husband. Eileen loves to write books for 

children  and after taking early retirement, she has a lot more time to devote to it.She discovered  Amazon’s  Createspace and Kindle Direct Publishing and decided to start publishing her own books. Then she created her own imprint for her books, so Childhood Books was born.

Eileen also enjoys writing poetry and short stories. She recently created the imprint, Landscape Books, for her adult books. She is an active member of Longford Writers Group.