Publisher's synopsis
‘I am the river, gently flowing, as I wind my way to the sea.’ (Mary Duroux) Follow the river of poetry through country, town, the bush, the four seasons, night and day and explore the Australian landscape through the eyes of our best Australian poets. In this beautiful collection of poems for children, award-winning author and poet, Libby Hathorn, has brought together favourites such as those by A.B. ‘Banjo’ Paterson, Dorothea Mackellar and C.J. Dennis, as well as more contemporary poems by Steven Herrick, Eva Johnson, Les A. Murray and others. Exquisite illustrations by Cassandra Allan make this a collection to treasure.
Libby Hathorn is an award-winning author of more than eighty books for children and young people. Translated into several languages and adapted for stage and screen, her work has won honours in Australia, United States, Great Britain and Holland. She is winner of The Alice Award, 2014, for ‘a distinguished and long-term contribution to Australian literature.’ In 2017 she won the Asher Literary Award (for a book with the theme of peace) for A Soldier, A Dog and a Boy, already a CBCA Notable 2016.
Her best-selling novel Thunderwith (Honour book, CBCA) re-titled The Echo of Thunder as a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, starred Judy Davis who was nominated for an EMMY for her performance as Gladwyn.
Of her picture storybooks she wrote the text for Way Home which won the Kate Greenaway Award, UK, with illustrations by Gregory Rogers. Grandma’s Shoes was performed by Opera Australia and Theatre of Image and Libby won an AWGIE for the libretto; and Sky Sash So Blue was performed as an opera in Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
Her recent novel Eventual Poppy Day, (Highly Commended by SSW, 2016) is an Anzac story; and her recent picture book Outside a CBCA Notable Book for 2015, is being developed as an opera for children, with the outstanding music of Elena Katz Chernin.
Libby is a keen educator, has lectured part-time at Sydney University; is a guest speaker at conferences such as PETAA, and writers’ festivals such as the Ubud Writers’ Festival, 2012; the Adelaide Writers Festival, 2015; the Sydney Writers’ Festival 2018. She is devoted to poetry and to ‘spreading the word’ about poetry.
She is currently working on a novel entitled Asylum and her next picture book, Miss Franklin based on the life of Miles Franklin, will be published by Hachette in 2019.
Cassandra Allen lives in France and works as an independent illustrator specialising in children’s books. After years of study in Melbourne, including fine art, photography and multimedia, her independent illustration and graphic design business took form based in a collective studio in Prahran. Several years later Cassandra followed her heart and focused exclusively on illustration. After moving to Europe she began illustrating children’s books, the most popular one to date titled There Was An Old Sailor first published in 2010 and republished several times since.
AWARDS
Winner Crystal Kite Award, Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrator 2011, There Was An Old Sailor.
Finalist Book of the Year, Speech Pathology Australia 2010, There Was An Old Sailor.
Finalist Korean Picture Book Awards 2010, There Was An Old Sailor
