A story of perseverance and courage... first time Kells author launches children's book

A KELLS MAN and first time author has released his new book Roxy Phoenix Fashion Genius just last month. William O’Neill, who is originally from Ratoath, has always used writing as a creative outlet.

William played in bands growing up, writing songs while also writing short stories in his free time as a hobby. When his now 11 year-old daughter Dayna was younger, he would write short stories to read to her.

When Dayna was seven, she came up with an imaginary character called Roxy and would play games where Roxy was a girl of many talents, owning businesses and rescuing animals.

William works at a shredding company in Summerhill so during his day to day job, children's books would come through for shredding. He ended up flicking through them, and began thinking “I could do this.”

One of Dayna’s stories was that Roxy was a fashion designer, so William started writing short stories about Roxy and her fashion design skills. The stories stuck and Dayna loved them, so William’s wife Denise suggested that he should write a children's book.

From his daughter’s imagination, his wife’s encouragement and his own writing skills, Roxy Phoenix Fashion Genius was born.

William began adding in sketches and filling out the pages to create the book, building a story of a young girl whose perseverance, courage and creativity stand to her.

The official book launch took place at The Book Market Cafe in Kells in mid-December, with only one copy of the book being present due to the shipment not arriving on time. William made the most out of the situation by seeing the funny side of it, and the book launch was a hit.

William’s 80 year-old uncle Glenn Henry flew in from New York for the book launch, and even inspired one of the characters in the book, given that he’s a black belt in Judo.

William's authorial career has only just begun, leaving Roxy Phoenix Fashion Genius open ended to hopefully follow up and continue the story.

Roxy Phoenix Fashion Genius is available to purchase here.