Zaro Weil's 'Cherry Moon' wins 2020 CLiPPA Award for ‘much-needed and joyful’ collection of nature poems
We’re thrilled to annouced that Zaro Weil’s poetry collection, Cherry Moon, illustrated by Junli Song, has won the CLiPPA Award 2020!
Zaro Weil by Chris Riddell
The Award was announced live at special Poetry Show on Friday 9 October hosted by The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival and watched by thousands of school children across the UK and beyond.
In a year of outstanding poetry publishing for children, the judges were particularly impressed by the thoughtfulness and variety of Weil’s poetry, the opportunities Cherry Moon offers for sharing poems aloud, and because, after months of lockdown, her book answers children’s growing need for poetry and the outdoors.
Judge Steven Camden, spoken word artist and 2019 CLiPPA winner, said “Cherry Moon feels like exactly what we need right now. A magical journey, grounded in natural beauty and a sense of communal wonder and hope.”
Fellow judge, poet Valerie Bloom said, “We found this a wonderfully evocative collection of poems a joyous celebration of nature and language. The playful exuberance of the text and complementary illustrations have immense child-appeal, but there is also an underlying thoughtfulness about the environment which parents and teachers sharing the book with younger children will appreciate. This is a book to be read and reread.”
The live Poetry Show, introduced by Camden and Bloom, featured performances by all of the shortlisted poets as well as live drawing by former Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell.
Louise Johns-Shepherd, Chief Executive at CLPE said, “The CLiPPA is a huge, inclusive celebration of poetry and its power to engage children. There has been a marked upsurge in interest in poetry for children this year – the National Poetry Archive has seen record levels of site visits for example and subscriptions to our Shadowing Scheme are three times what they were in 2019. Our winner is the perfect book for today: Zaro’s poems allow children to explore their emotions and understand them as shared experiences; and it connects readers with the natural world, something that is vital at this time. Children need poetry right now, and we are delighted that so many children and their teachers joined us to celebrate at the Poetry Show today.”
Discover more about Cherry Moon, poet Zaro Weil and illustrator Junli Song.
Read Zaro’s guest blog on www.booksfortopics.com about how she came to write Cherry Moon.
Watch Zaro perform a poem from the book, 'A Parade of Beast Doodles':
CLiPPA 2020:The full shortlist is:
Cherry Moon, Zaro Weil, illustrated by Junli Song, ZaZaKids Books/ Troika Books. (Winner).
Poems the Wind Blew In, Karmelo C. Iribarren, illustrated by Riya Chowdhury, translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel, The Emma Press. (Commended)
Midnight Feasts. Tasty Poems chosen by A.F. Harrold, illustrated by Katy Riddell, Bloomsbury.
The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How-To Poems, compiled by Paul B. Janeczko, illustrated by Richard Jones, Walker Books.
Wain. LGBT Reimaginings of Scottish Folklore, Rachel Plummer, illustrated by Helene Boppert, The Emma Press.
This year the judges are poets Valerie Bloom and Steven Camden, winner of the CLiPPA 2019, alongside Tracey Guiry, director of the Poetry Archive and Charlotte Hacking, Central Learning Programmes Leader at CLPE.