I’ve always loved stories: reading, watching TV and movies, and making up my own stories and plays, but I didn’t seriously contemplate being a writer until my mid-twenties when I was writing up my Physics PhD thesis and reading Harry Potter at the same time. I thought it would be more fun to write stories that people read for enjoyment rather than research papers that people read for work because they have to. Once I’d finished my scientific studies I set about becoming a writer.

When I'm not writing, I work as a science communicator. One Halloween we produced a 'Trick or Treat Through the Milky Way' planetarium show. My family attended the show, and afterwards my husband said, 'What you should have done, was all the ways you can die in space.' I thought it would be interesting to find out exactly what would happen to a human body in extreme heat/cold/pressure, etc., so I wrote the book. The characters were so endearing I simply had to send them on other adventures. They're at the beach this time, and in the future I'm hoping to share more of their adventures as they travel to other countries and through time. 

A good friend of mine is always reminding me that we know less about the ocean than we know about space, so 50 Ways to Die in the Ocean seemed like an appropriate sequel to 50 Ways to Die in Space.

I have oodles! I have a few picture books which have themes of caring for the environment, and I am also working on the text for some graphics novels with a scientific theme. 

I did a double degree at university in Science/Arts, then completed a PhD in Astrophysics. I spent some time overseas working on IT systems for various Olympic Games and a very brief stint at the All England Lawn Tennis Club as a web producer and journalist for the Wimbledon tennis championships one year. Now I do the fun bits of astronomy – looking at pretty pictures of space and sharing the hard-earned discoveries of research scientists with the public.

Do writing your way. 

J.K. Rowling for the Harry Potter series, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. He has my ideal job. A good pun, or a good character name is also very inspirational.

I like reading, obviously, and many different forms of story-telling: plays, musicals, film, TV, well-crafted song lyrics… I enjoy playing music and tackling new musical instruments. I’m interested in space, health, the environment and pop culture. I’ve always loved studying foreign languages (my Arts degree is in Japanese and Italian) and I’ve been lucky enough to spend many years living in non-English-speaking countries. 

My favourite books change depending on what mood and phase of life I’m in. I will never throw out Bringing Down the Moon or No Matter What which were favourite picture books when my kids were small. I like the first books of popular YA series such as The Hunger Games and Divergent. Recently I’ve enjoyed The Great Escape from Woodlands Nursing Home and Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

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Website: http://eileenohely.com/..

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