Southampton-based author Yarrow Townsend has been shortlisted for a prestigious children’s book award.
The Branford Boase Award acknowledges particular talent among debut children’s writers alongside the hard work of their editors. Yarrow’s book, The Map of Leaves, has been shortlisted for the award, alongside six others.
Yarrow said: “To be shortlisted among six books, out of the hundreds that were published this year, is incredible.
“I’m a local author and my writing is definitely inspired by the green spaces around the city. This national award is also in honour of a Woolston based writer, Henrietta Branford, and her editor.
“It’s a delight to be shortlisted for such a prestigious award that also recognises the fundamental role of an editor in bringing stories to life. The Map of Leaves is a story about the wild and oft-ignored parts of nature. It is inspired by the bogs and wetland of the New Forest, my own overgrown gardens – and paddling up and down the River Itchen. It’s about one girl’s journey to save these places, in the face of adults who don’t understand why they should be protected. It’s nice to think that Henrietta Branford (who the award is named after, alongside her editor Wendy Boase – and who was local to Southampton) might have recognised these themes and the struggles currently facing our local wild places.”
For more information about the Branford Boase award, click here.
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Read a review of The Map of Leaves: