Beginner’s pluck: Writer and teacher Eilish Fisher

Eilish Fisher: 'I worked with horses in the summers — they were a large part of my life.' Picture: Nick Bradshaw

Eilish has always written poetry.

“I was always reading too,” she says. “At home, in rural Vermont, we had acres of farmland. 

“I worked with horses in the summers — they were a large part of my life.”

She stopped writing creatively when she moved to Maynooth for College.

“Academia took over,” she says. “I was lecturing and tutoring — and then I retrained as an equine chiropractor and physiotherapist.”

I worked at that for two years and then sustained a bad injury.

Joining the writing group, Avoca Writers, Eilish returned to poetry — and then, through reading books to her son, she became intrigued with storytelling.

This led to online workshops and mentorships from Words Ireland, and the Arts Council.

“I wrote two books for children in prose, then a YA one in verse.”

She gained agent Joanna Moult, but the book didn’t sell.

The next one, Fia and the Last Snow Deer won the Bord Gais Irish Children’s Book of the year Award, a KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Award, and the Eilis Dillon Award.

Who is Eilish Fisher?

Date/ place of birth: 1979/ Vermont, USA.

Education: Union 32 High School in Vermont. Maynooth University. English and Medieval Irish History; MA in Medieval Irish Literature; PhD in Medieval English Literature.

Home: Glenmalure, Co Wicklow.

Family: Partner, Nick, and son, Kaeden. 10. Dogs Shadow and Axel, and cat Smudge.

The day job: Writing and teaching.

In another life: “I’d be a fiddle player in a traditional band.”

Favourite writers: Sarah Crossan; Jane Clarke; Mary Oliver; Robert Frost; David Budbill; Ross Montgomery; Sharon Creech.

Next book: “I’m at the editing stage.”

Top tip: “Know your characters as well as you know yourself.”

Website: www.eilishfisher.com

Instagram: @eilishfisherwriting

The debut

The Waters and the Wild

Illustrated by David Rooney; Puffin UK, €17.99

When Rowan’s Dad dies, she and her mum leave the Arizonian desert and move to rainy cold Ireland, and life changes utterly. 

Something isn’t right. A mysterious wall surrounds the town, that nobody must cross. 

But when Rowan finds a gap — and explores the woods beyond — she discovers a strange horse, and a return of hope. But is there a price?

The verdict: Written in verse, this glorious children’s book is one to treasure. I love it when children engage with the characters.