The Vicky Metcalf Award!

Well, THIS is the most wonderful thing that has happened to me in many a year!

I have been honoured with one of Canada's most prestigious literary awards — the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People! Here's the formal description from the Writers' Trust of Canada:

"The Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People is given annually to the author of an exceptional body of work in children's literature, and the winner is selected by a three-member judging panel."

My deepest thanks to the Writers' Trust, to the Vicky Metcalf Foundation, and to the jury of my peers (Hadley Dyer, Marthe Jocelyn and Mahtab Narsimhan) who said the following:

"Warm, humorous and fun are the best words to describe the works of Linda Bailey over a career that has spanned three decades. Bailey's highly imaginative, propulsive plots frequently send characters — two, four, and six-legged — on journeys across uncharted territory or time, driven by burning questions or a yearning to escape the ordinary." 

This award comes with a $25,000 prize and carries with it a long history of the greatest names in Canadian children's literature. The previous winners are my heroes! I am honoured beyond words to join them.   

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Booklist Interview with Me & Júlia Sardà

The editors of Booklist have chosen Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein as their 2018 Top of the List Picture Book. I feel enormously honoured. 

As part of this choice, the Booklist editors asked Julia Smith to interview Júlia Sardà and me about our processes in writing and illustrating Mary. For me, this was very exciting. I have written almost twenty picture books and have been lucky to have them illustrated by some superbly talented illustrators. Some of these illustrators I know well, but most I have never met. This is the first time an interviewer has ever asked me and an illustrator to answer the same questions about our shared creation. As I have never met Júlia, who lives in Barcelona, this was an incredible opportunity for me to get a glimpse into her process. I loved reading her responses — as thoughtful, insightful and unique as her art — and I hope to meet her one day. You can find the interview at:

https://www.booklistonline.com/Top-of-the-List-Interview-Linda-Bailey-and-J-lia-Sard-/pid=9714234?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 

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TINY HERO is a Nominee!

I'm delighted to announce that The Tiny Hero of Ferny Creek Library has become an award nominee — several times over, and in both Canada and the U.S.!

It's currently nominated for the following fantastic children's choice reading awards:

•  The 2019 Sequoyah Book Award of Oklahoma (Oklahoma Library Association)
•  The 2018-19 B.C. Red Cedar Award (British Columbia)
•  The 2019 Rocky Mountain Book Awards (Alberta)

All three lists are filled with wonderful middle-grade novels. Happy reading to all the lucky kids who will participate!

P.S.  The Tiny Hero of Ferny Creek Library is also a 2018 Canada-wide TD Summer Reading Club  Choice.


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Exciting Nominations for 2017!

So proud to have books nominated for these wonderful 2017 Canadian readers' choice awards: 

Ontario Blue Spruce Award: Stanley at School

Saskatchewan Shining Willow Award:

• When Santa Was a Baby
• If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur

BC Chocolate Lily Award (picture books):

• When Santa Was a Baby
• Stanley at School

In the novel category, Seven Dead Pirates has been nominated across Canada (and beyond) for the following awards:

• BC Red Cedar Award
• Ontario Silver Birch Award
• Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award
• Atlantic Provinces Hackmatack Award
• Saskatchewan Diamond Willow Award
• Alberta Rocky Mountain Book Award
• BC Chocolate Lily Award
• Maine Student Book Award

Many thanks to all the organizers, and happy reading to participants!

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A Springtime of Good Fortune

Oh, wow! I have had such a wonderful spring. The children’s choice awards across Canada are always amazing, and this year some of my books have been fortunate enough to be voted by Canadian kids as their favourite.

I’m delighted to announce that If Kids Ruled the World has won the Saskatchewan Shining Willow Award. Here's a photo of the beautiful “willow tree" that now sits proudly on top of my bookcase. Huge thanks to all those young readers in Saskatchewan . . .

Thank you, Blue Spruce peeps,
 from both of us!

Adding to the excitement, a few days later If Kids Ruled the World won the Ontario Blue Spruce Award. Illustrator David Huyck and I were lucky enough to both be in Toronto for the announcement. This was the first time we’ve ever met. What a complete sweetie! (He’s every bit as friendly as he looks.)

Good luck must really come in threes because soon afterwards I learned that If You Happen to Have a Dinosaur won the BC Chocolate Lily Award. Chocolate Lily readers, thank you so much for your votes.

And now I will just sink back in my flowered chair and pinch myself a few times. This has been one terrific spring. Thanks to all!

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