Since childhood I have had an abiding interest in writing, maybe it’s my Irish blood, I was certainly brought up in a family where a wide vocabulary and the ability to tell a good story were much treasured. However my career in the theatre, first as a designer and then as an opera singer and actress was too consuming to allow the time to pursue it seriously and seek publication.

For me, writing in some ways is the continuation of a lifetime of the keen observation necessary to be a performer. The endless complexity of human behaviour and body language is as much grist to the actors life as it is to the writer’s.

I didn’t expect to find myself writing for children, the endless journals and notebooks I have kept throughout my life, that charted my travels, pointed elsewhere. But unexpectedly inspired by a medley of dogs cared for on a B&B basis by a delightful neighbour, I found that the stories that began to emerge could only be for children.
In writing these it has been an important consideration that they are good to read aloud, so that they can be fun for parents as well as children. Especially the other animal languages that appear in this my first story!

For more information about Robin Archer and Nuala Willis, please visit the About Us page on this site. And for more information about Miss Toast’s adventures in ‘The Dog Who Could Speak Cat’ and other stories, please visit the Books page on this site.

©Nuala Willis 2014