An East Lancashire author who works tirelessly to promote literature for children has been awarded The People's Book Prize for Best Published Book.
Award-winning author and Patron of Blackburn with Darwen Libraries for Children and Young People, Christina Gabbitas has been awarded The People’s Book Prize for publishing a collection of poems written by children, called Lockdown Life.
Ms Gabbitas, who spent the first 22 years of her life growing up in Blackburn came up with the project in lockdown to encourage children, young people, and teachers to write a poem in any style about how they were feeling.
She said: “Lockdown was a challenge for everyone, I wanted to give children, teenagers, and teachers an opportunity to write about how they were feeling, to share share some of their thoughts to publish in a poetry collection for all to read.
"I wanted children and young people to know that they weren’t alone with their thoughts.
"I had twenty-five judges from all walks of life, including actress Jenny Agutter OBE, and musician of The Undertones Michael Bradley who helped to publicise too.”
Jenny Agutter, who plays character Sister Julienne in Call the Midwife, said: “These are a charming and touching collection of poems from lockdown, giving a glimpse of the fears, frustration and some of the fun to be had.
"It was wonderful to learn that this collection has won Best Published Book in The People’s Book Prize.”
Michael Bradley of the punk band The Undertones said: “This was a brilliant project to be involved in, congratulations to all the poets and Christina for organising.”
Manager of Blackburn with Darwen Libraries, Adele Karwatt, said: “This is another amazing achievement by our Patron Christina, which is why we chose her to represent our libraries, her passion for encouraging children and young people is a continued focus for her.
"We are looking forward to working with Christina on our next Blackburn with Darwen children’s literature festival in Libraries Week in October.”
Christina who was also commissioned to write a story by Blackburn BID to bring magic back into Blackburn with her story Believe in the Magic of Blackburn, is working on converting the story into a play to be performed at King Georges Hall sometime in 2023.
In order to make the project viable, Christina is looking for support with funding of the project.
If you would like to help, please contact Christina via info@christinagabbitas.com
More information about the project can be found here about Lockdown Life and Believe in Magic.
peoplesbookprize.com/summer-2021/lockdown-life/
childrensliteraturefestivals.com/my-lockdown-poem/
peoplesbookprize.com/summer-2021/believe-in-the-magic-of-blackburn/
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