Congratulations to our very own Susan Wardell

Posted: Friday Aug 11, 2023

2023 Winner of the NZSA Best First Book Award

The NZSA Best First Book Award goes to ‘The Lighthouse Princess’ by Susan Wardell, illustrated by Rose Northey, published by Penguin Random House. 

"The Lighthouse Princess stands out as a picture book that combines poetic writing and whimsical illustration to create a sum that is greater than its parts. This clever alchemy is all the more astounding considering it is both the writer’s and the illustrator’s first foray into publication. With details that draw a child’s eye into the world of the Lighthouse, and language that lures us from page to page, Rose Northey and Susan Wardell take the reader to an escapist hideaway on a rocky coast inhabited by creatures both real and imagined. Like the boy in the story, once invited in, many will choose not to leave." 

Congratulations Susan!

2023 Awards Winners | New Zealand Book Awards Trust (nzbookawards.nz)