Yellow-coated author delight

This fabulous photo of author happiness is Christchurch-based Andrea who blogs as A Cat of Impossible Colour. She's just heard the Random House UK has accepted her book. Isn't it fantastic?

[Photo credit: Andrea] Andrea is only 24 years old and, with one novel under her belt in her homeland of Zimbabwe, she slogs away on subsequent novels at home in Christchurch, and has gone through a roller coaster of despair and hope waiting on international agents and publishers to show interest. I am in awe of her commitment. She is an example of what talent + sweat can do [not one or the other which too many of us rely on...] and she deserves every bit of her success.

Andrea is also mad on clothes - hence the very gorgeous yellow coat in the photo which, I am guessing, has just been bought. Her blog not only talks books, it also describes her adventures in vintage stores, the treasures she finds, the way she adapts them to look fantastic on her. Get this: she says one of her aims - apart from getting published - is to have a coat in every colour!

And followers? Andrea has stacks of people who follow her chirpy, honest, generous blog - the day she announced her book was being published there were 81 comments! Makes me think I should start dragging out some of my fashion offerings.......

...... or maybe not. Don't want to put people off.

Her book ... it's called Ngozi and through the eyes of a young girl it follows 'the struggle of one troubled white family to stay afloat in the collapsing economy and escalating horror of Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.' Read more about it on Andrea's blog - roll down to thepost 'Bright Colours and Happiness', and further on you'll find not one but four or five pics of a leaping author in yellow!

Bravo Andrea.

And congratulations must go to to another Christchurch author who's done well overseas. Eleanor Catton has just won a major UK Award for first novels. It's the Betty Trask Award and Catton's novel The Rehearsal [VUP and Granta] is joint winner with Samantha Harvey's The Wilderness. The prize is a fantastic £8,000. I've heard whispers that this book could be up for other prizes in the UK which is hugely exciting.

The thing is, these UK coups are good news for all NZ authors, really. Shows what we can do - something to aim for - whets the appetite over there.... all of that.

Makes me want to go out and find myself a yellow coat.

Just. In. Case.