Kiki, the big-haired hero of Anita Poupouroulis’s award-winning children’s book, ‘Oh, What a Tangle!’ (Image: www.AnitaPoupouroulis.com)
By Anne Taylor
26 November 2013
South African author Anita Pouroulis has won a top international award at the China Children’s Book Fair in Shanghai for her picture book, Oh, What A Tangle! The book is illustrated by Monika Filipina Trzpil.
The book fair, the first to be held in China, was held over two days in Shanghai earlier this month, and was attended by some of the biggest names in children’s publishing.
Published by UK company Digital Leaf, Oh, What a Tangle! was awarded the Golden Pinwheel prize for best International original Picture Book.
“These days there are many challenges facing small presses and it was a great thrill to show the rest of the world what we’ve achieved.” – Neil Jeffries, publisher
A spokesperson for the Golden Pinwheel Awards said the prize was founded to encourage excellence in children’s publishing and promote cultural diversity and international exchange “while at the same time showcasing the leading edge of the children’s publishing industry, spreading the latest international children’s reading materials and raising the overall quality of children’s reading materials”.
The story is about a young girl called Kiki, who has beautiful hair. “But she’s not really into brushing it and prefers to do more fun things like draw on her shoes or paint designs on her hands,” Pouroulis writes on her blog. “And so the usual tangle develops … But the things that happen as a result of this tangle are highly unusual and rather funny!”
Digital Leaf, a children’s digital publisher, was formed in 2011 by Neil Jeffries and Dustin Brooks. It only started publishing books last year.
Pouroulis grew up in Johannesburg, but now lives in Spain with her family. Oh, What a Tangle! has been translated into Spanish and Catalan.
- Oh, What A Tangle! has also been developed as an animated interactive app and is available from iTunes and the Google Play store.
