Joy Cowley signs a copy of The Gobbledegook Book with illustrator Giselle Clarkson. PHOTO/FILE
Featherston author Dame Joy Cowley continues to reel in recognition for her works.
The Gobbledegook Book, written by Cowley and illustrated by Greytown’s Giselle Clarkson is a finalist in this year’s New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in the picture book category.
“The old woman smiles in appreciation and gratitude, but the child in me is yelling, doing handstands, and jumping in puddles,” Cowley said of the nomination. “Isn’t it wonderful that we all have a child in us that never ages?”
Clarkson said she was already so proud of the book they had made, “so being a finalist really is the icing on the cake and I’m very excited”.
Other books in the category are: Abigail and the Birth of the Sun, Matthew Cunningham, illustrated by Sarah Wilkins; How Māui Slowed the Sun, written and illustrated by Donovan Bixley; Mini Whinny: Goody Four Shoes, Stacy Gregg, illustrated by Ruth Paul; and Santa’s Worst Christmas, Pania Tahau-Hodges and Bryony Walker, illustrated by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White.
There were a record 178 entries submitted for the awards this year.
The winners of each of the six main categories – Picture Book, Junior Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Non-Fiction, Illustration and te reo Maori – take home $7500 and are then in the running to be named the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year, with a further $7500 prize money.
