So.
This year I:
Turned 34;
Moved states;
Got a cat;
Lost a best friend – my horse, Axel;
Became a yoga addict (despite being a long-time yoga nay-sayer/eye-roller);
Wrote a novel;
Watched The Biggest Little Farm doco TWICE? (Have you seen this? On Stan. That Pig!);
Started composting;
Watched my country burn;
Watched my country fight over toilet paper;
Discovered that I DO like frozen peas and corn (it’s just those wretched little cubed carrots that I take exception to);
And was awarded an Honour by The Children’s Book Council of Australia. Wow. Gosh.
But the biggest thing that happened?
My son learned how to read.
I busted him one night, after lights out, reading a book that I wrote. Reading Magnolia Moon. Wow. Gosh.
Literacy is freedom, so they say. And this year, where we have all faced unprecedented uncertainty, and I have doubted my ability to navigate parenthood – because this is scary! Because I don’t have the answers! Because bad things do happen! But it’s all so darn wonderful! – I have been armed with books.
“Read this!” I can now say to him when asked to explain the inexplicable.
A door, a window, has been opened for my son. And it’s because of this community. Because of readers and writers and illustrators and publishers and editors and booksellers and book designers and the whole darn lot of you.
This year, whenever I have been scared, sad, lost, angry, happy, tired, lonely, bored, confused, and overwhelmed, I have picked up a book and returned home.
So.
Thank you to the CBCA for this huge honour, and congratulations to our Australian creators, on and off the list. Let’s keep this life-long party going!