Dolores Keaveney, Children’s Author & Illustrator

Hello, Dolores here.   I am an author and illustrator of children’s picture books and   I  have been painting for the best part of 40 years and have had many exhibitions. My art is vibrant, colourful, loose and up-lifting. I get my inspiration from the bees, my garden and my grandchildren. 15 years ago I was inspired to write and illustrate my first  children’s picture book  called If I were a bee….because I really love bees and I had been learning about them and they inspired me to write a little picture book about them.   I decided to self publish because I had read up and researched a lot about self publishing over the previous year and I felt it was a route which I would like to take as it was a challenging way to go about publishing a book. I realised from the start that it would be a daunting journey but I felt I still wanted to go this route. In 2009 I launched  ‘If I were a bee’… This book was a great success for me and spurred me on to write and illustrate more. So I have continued to launch one or two books per year since then.

I have produced and published 18 picture books to date and my latest one is back to the bees.   It is called Queenie the Queen Bee and it is all about the queen herself.   Without this amazing bee we would not have any honeybees. It is the 4th in my bee series.    The book is available here on my website and some shops.

Ten of my books are available to download from Amazon Kindle here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dolores-Keaveney/e/B0034NIWM8/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Libraries & Schools

I take part in workshops regularly in Schools and Libraries throughout the country. I have many testimonials from my reading and doodling events.

RESIDENCY

2012 Residency in the Tyrone Gutrie Centre Annamakerrig Monaghan

TEXTILES

I am delighted to say that I have joined forces with Pixalili Co. Donegal who will be launching a range of textiles featuring my images from some of my books.  hop on to their website to check them out. 

NATIONWIDE RTE APPEARANCE

I was lucky enough to appear on RTE Nationwide on two occasions.  The first was way back when I wrote my second book and the latest was last year when the RTE Nationwide came to Mullingar and spend the day with me.   We visited a local bookshop and took a tour of my Dee the Bee Story Trail in Belvedere House Gardens and Park.   The team then came to my house where I gave them a tour of my lovely garden and did some painting and writing.  I also gave a little interview about my life as a self published author.      It was a great experience.

DEE THE BEE STORY TRAIL

One of my books Dee the Bee has been erected as an outdoor Story Trail in various venues around Ireland.   The libraries were the first to erect it and my local library here in Westmeath erected it on the Mullingar Greenway two years ago and it is still there.    I am hoping that it will continue to be erected nationwide in many different venues. It is a great way to get the kids to learn all about the fruit and vegetables that the amazing honeybee pollinates for us.