A happy happy day for quite a few writers and illustrators
including myself!
Ghoulish Get Ups has been shortlisted as a non fiction finalist
for this year's New Zealand Childrens' and Young Adult Book Awards!
I am so proud to be there, most particularly with The Book of Hat, by Harriet Rowland and published by Makaro Press. This book is very
special to me- 20 year old Harriet was the daughter of friends Jan Kelly
and John Rowland and sister of Tom. Jan
and I went to school together back in the day. We even did a stint berry
picking in Nelson one summer holiday. They are as nice a family as you can get,
and, sadly (barely describes it), Harriet passed away from cancer after writing
an inspirational blog which the wonderful Mary McCallum (also an old school
mate) from Makaro Press turned into a book. It was a team effort and Harriet
rallied for the book launch at Park Road Post in a stunning dress. She went back
into the hospice the next day. You can read Harriet's blog here: My Experience of Walking the Dog. Absurdly it might seem, I'm more excited about Harriet's book making the list than my own. I guess thats because when people touch your heart, you forget about your own concerns for a time.
So I'm looking forward to the award ceremony with her parents, my colleagues
and friends, to be held at Government House on the 13th August 2015. That we
have a book award at all is pretty amazing. The long term benefactor, New Zealand Post, pulled out of sponsorship this
year and left Booksellers and publishers scrabbling about to find a way to
honour the authors and illustrators who work so hard in this industry for so
little return. We are grateful that they have found a way to pull it together-
pared back to the bone but still a celebration of what we do and the excitement
of maybe a gong at the end of the evening, and if not, a lovely certificate to
frame and something to put on the CV. And then we'll all go out for dinner. If
you see a huge group of slightly mad people at a restaurant in Wellington that
night all talking ten to the dozen, and some drinking far too much, that's us
(and the too much is me).
Harriet said: 'Life can change in an instant so appreciate
everyone. You never know what's around the corner.' And I appreciate my publishers, Scholastic
who keep soldiering on in these uncertain times to produce quality books for
kids and who have faith in my work.
Speaking of soldiering and work, I'm starting on
illustrating a new ANZAC book- written by the talented Jennifer Beck. It has a
tortoise in it and I am channelling the one I had in England as a kid- Sooty
(named after Sooty and Sweep a teddy bear glove puppet that looks nothing like a tortoise). We couldn't bring him to New Zealand with us -
though if it had been 1915, we could possibly have stowed a hibernating one in
our kit bag...