Dear Grandpa a CBCA Notable!

Writing books is mostly not as glamerous as it sounds. Quite often you're in your pyjamas, beating your head against the wall. Many times, you'll see people's eyes glaze over as you tell them about your latest work in progress. But occasionally, a life dream is unlocked, and that happened for me this week.

On Tuesday, the Children's Book Council of Australia announced their list of 20 Notables in each of 5 categories of children's books: Older Readers, Younger Readers, Early Childhood, Picture Books and the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books. These books are entitled to their own shiney Notable sticker and form the longlist for the CBCA's Book of the Year Awards.

Imagine my delight to find Dear Grandpa on this list in the Picture Book category, alongside books from some of the Australian industry's most admired creators. I was completely gobsmacked. As I said, writing books is mostly not as glamerous as it sounds, and my celebrations consisted of eating an entire block of chocolate while sitting in my pyjamas and staring dazedly at the wall, but I can now cross one quite unbelievable item off my writing bucket list.

Find the full list of CBCA Notables on their website: https://www.cbca.org.au/notables-2020

Huge congratulations to illustrator Ronojoy Ghosh and to my publisher Allen and Unwin, who have over 20 books on this year's Notables list.