Frontpage | The Author | The Books | The Illustrations | The Storyteller | Talks on Writing | Teacher Reviews | Children's Reviews | INTO Reviews | Children's Art | Library Reviews |
Bookshop Reviews | Newspaper Reviews | Guest Appearances | Bookshops Visited | Schools Visited | Libraries Visited | School Crests | Video Clips | Costume Photos | Format of Visit | Book Sales | Contact Me

About the Author

My name is Liam Farrell and I am a fulltime Children’s Author & Storyteller living and working in Maynooth, which is in County Kildare in Ireland. At the moment I have five books published here in Ireland. The fifth is the new Mercier Press single volume edition of my trilogy about the unfortunate misunderstanding surrounding the events leading up to and after the difficulties which occurred between The Three Little Pigs & The Big Bad/Good Wolf. My books are for 5 to 9 year olds and are for assisted and independent reading.

My first two books The True Story of The Three Little Pigs & The Big Bad Wolf and The Trial of The Big Bad Wolf when they first came out were positively reviewed by the Pat Kenny Programme on RTÉ Radio.

The first chapter of my first book The True Story of The Three Little Pigs & The Big Bad Wolf is used in C.J. Fallon’s Third Class English Reader “Get Set!” which is presently in use in Primary Schools nationwide. (See pages: 188/193).

According to reports from young teachers my books have also been used in a couple of the Teacher Training Colleges here in Ireland to show the student teachers alternative views to the accepted and traditional fairy tales.

When my fourth book Goldilocks The Babysitter from Hell was published I got to meet one of my heroes, Dustin the Turkey. I was invited to appear on his TV show Dustin’s Daily News on RTÉ 2 Television to talk about my book and what Goldilocks did to upset Papa Bear. (I got my photograph taken with Dustin. I’m the one in the Papa Bear suit. It’s around here somewhere. Have a look and see if you can find it. By the way Dustin is really nice when you get to know him. He’s not half as rude off-screen, as he is when he is on television.)

It was the best bit of fun I have had in years. It was really amazing to see how a Television Studio works. I was struck by how small it was. It was like being in a shoe box with all these gadgets around you. The illusion of size is all done by camera angles. I had to keep very still and stay really quiet and watch the monitor for my Qs.

While I was waiting to go on in my Papa Bear suit the RTÉ co-ordinator put me in Ryan Tubridy’s dressing room for a while. At least that’s whose dressing room she told me it was. From what I saw in there the Tubs fella must be a very nervous character altogether. There was no mirror. The carpet just inside the door was nearly worn away and was thread bare from somebody pacing up and down. There were what looked like scratch marks on the back of the door.

I have been writing all my life. I started writing when I was in about Fifth Class in the CBS Primary School in my home town of Roscommon. As a child I was never into sports. I was more into using my imagination and making up stories (you should have heard some of the excuses I had for not having my homework done on time).

Along with children’s books I also write short stories and articles (mainly history) for newspapers and magazines. I now have some of my short stories up on Amazon/Kindle Direct Publishing for viewing. Over time I will be putting a lot more of my work up there for people to read. This will include not only my short stories, but also historical and general interest articles. There will be a small reading charge payable to Amazon/KDP to view these. Everything I write is published under my own name. So look out for my stuff on Kindle Direct Publishing.

The first cheque I ever got for writing was back in December 1983. It was for Stg£35 for a romantic short story I wrote for a women’s magazine in the United Kingdom. I still have the cheque. I never cashed it. I kept it as a souvenir, because to me it meant I was now a real writer and not just a “want-to-be” anymore, as somebody had actually paid me for my work.

You see writing and storytelling is in my blood. Other members of my family are writers, poets, artists, photographers and journalists. My daughter is a very talented artist and my son among his other commercial talents is both a creative writer and a technical writer. As my cousin Terry once said to me, “there’s INK in the blood.”