Local author wins international award

Bedfordview resident and South African author, Ms Anita Pouroulis, won one of the top awards in children’s publications for her picture book, Oh What a Tangle.

The Award-winning author, and former Saheti School teacher, won the Best International Children’s Book Award at the China Children’s Book Fair in Shanghai, China, in November.

In 2012, Ms Pouroulis had four books, Oh What a Tangle!, Pancake Pandemonium, My Monster Mayhem and Mum’s Cronky Car, published as books and interactive applications by Digital Leaf, a London-based publishing company.

In November this year, Digital Leaf attended the prestigious Childrens’ Book Fair which, Oh What a Tangle!’, won the first prize in the category of Best International Children’s book. “When my publishers called to give me the good news, I was surprised and so unbelievably pleased,” said Ms Pouroulis.

“It gave me such a boost to know that this favourite story of mine, which was inspired by my daughter who doesn’t like to brush her hair, was recognised internationally by the experts as an excellent children’s story,” Ms Pouroulis added.

“Winning a literary award has great significance in the publishing industry as it is the recognition of excellence. As an author, you always hope your books will be loved and enjoyed by children out there and that is the aim of course, but to be recognized and validated by experts in the industry is an added boon,” said Ms Pouroulis.

“The, Oh What A Tangle book, which was released in South Africa earlier this year tells the story of a young girl, Kiki, who is too busy having a good time to brush her hair and was voted onto the Family Favourites’ list by the readers of The Guardian’s children’s book site in the United Kingdom last year.

“I am working on a series of books at the moment, which are also aimed at the age group of about 5 to 9 years. I would also love to write books for the teenage age group as well, so that is my next literary goal,” said Ms Pouroulis.