When put down in words, a life of experience is most often read as a memoir. Pages and pages of personal anecdotes which are poured over by the riveted adult reader.
However, Annaghmore’s newest author Maura Sophia Harbinson, has broke with tradition and instead opted to transcribe her life of experience into a children’s tale depicting a “beauteous land beyond the rainbow” where learning and adventure go hand in hand.
Aimed at the bright, young minds of the future, her wonderous new novella, ‘Ullah Land’ has now been picked up by esteemed London-based publishing house, Austin Macauley Publishers and is available for purchase on Amazon, Waterstones and WHSmith.
Written as a culmination of her life’s writings and imbued with a wealth of professional experience, the story within the pages of the lightly illustrated ‘Ullah Land’ – taken from the Gaelic ‘Ulaid’ meaning Ulster – is a fable in the truest sense of the word.
Speaking to Armagh I, Maura who is professionally qualified and experienced in the fields of Health, Social Care, Child Development, Further and Higher Education and is a BA graduate of the Open University, said: “My interests are life, the environment and human behaviour essentially.
“Those are things that I have been particularly tuned into. They would form an inspiration for writing whether it’s me making sense of it or promoting my sense of it.”
Following the journey of a curious little rabbit known as ‘Romper’, the fable, written lyrically in almost poetic form, comprises a total of 32 individual tales or “activities” as he encounters many other animal characters along the way.
Internally, there are four cores themes that Maura describes as exploring the “natural environment”, “developmental focus”, “inclusiveness and diversity” and “the self”.
Explains Maura: “The natural environment is very much focused upon within this book and it’s my thought that it will envelope and compel awareness in younger children and lead to an evaluation of the world’s natural resources.
“The next is a developmental focus and in that I would see it enlightening the sensory perception of children. I would see it nurturing their emotional expression and I would see it encouraging physical activity and imaginative exploring.
“I have tried to embed within the book an inclusiveness and diversity and explicate an acceptance requirement around that, in this world we are living in. For children to take out of that a positive respect and regard for all.
“The fourth theme is the self – the child. In that, I was directing it towards the child engaging in their own responsibility and working towards being independent, resilient and being aware of their own vulnerabilities that are reflected in the story.”
While Maura asserts there was no “singular thing” that influenced or inspired her writing she did admit it was rather a “combination” of factors.
“I have written really for most of my life in small ways and entered competitions and had a lot of little jottings about me so to speak,” said Maura.
“I took professional retirement which left me with more time and I needed to be more fulfilled with the space I had been given and that’s what entered that space; the need to do more writing and it led then to a strengthening of the skill that I had.”
The result of that filled space was the creation of an entirely new one in ‘Ullah Land’.
And, Maura has no plans to stop there, with two more follow up tales already in their advanced stages.
Of the two follow-up novellas, Maura added: “There is one that is a distinct follow up.
“In Ullah Land I introduced the idea that there is an indigenous population there called ‘Fu Fu’ but I haven’t enlarged upon that because the story itself is about the key characters.
“They are very detailed, little named characters, there’s an otter, a crow, ducklings and a fox and a goat.
“The main character and secondary characters are very much the essence of that story but the little people that I have created happen to belong to some art that I have already carried out as well.
“I have always been a scribbler. I would not consider myself an artist in that sense but I have amassed a little gallery of creatures and they would be the ‘Fu Fu’.
“So, for the next story I am going to utilise them but it could be bolted on to that first one. That’s the ambition anyway.”
Of seeing her book make publication, Maura said: “It’s interesting to watch your ambition unfold as it starts off really very personal and then you gain confidence with it as its appearing and growing for you and then obviously its a validation when a publisher of significance thinks its worthy of going forward, so I’m very pleased.”
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