The CLiPPA, the UK’s leading award for published poetry for children, has been awarded to Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek for their collection of poems inspired by nature, Marshmallow Clouds.

Marshmallow Clouds is illustrated by Richard Jones and published by Walker Books. In a year of outstanding poetry publishing for children, Nicola Davies is Highly Commended for her moving sequence of poems about the refugee experience, Choose Love(Graffeg) which is illustrated by Petr Horáček.

Both books are ‘things of beauty’, in the words of chair of the judges, Chris Riddell, who highlights the increased production and design values the judges noticed in the books on this year’s shortlist. ‘Illustration harmonises with poetry’ he says, ‘allowing the words to enter the reader’s imagination and stay there. I love the way words and pictures work together and the CLiPPA prize winners exemplify this.’ 

Richard Jones’ illustrations for Marshmallow Clouds incorporate images from each poem into subdued landscapes or domestic settings to lovely effect, as in one scene of brown ponies amid birches on a snowy hillside and another of sinuous, nearly bare trees with intimately interwoven branches. Poems and paintings work together as imagination stretchers.

The challenge is this; how do you create several individual pictures that must exist independently of one another while, at the same time, coming together to form a cohesive whole with a single identity?

Richard Jones

Richard describes making a poetry book as ‘a puzzle to be deciphered, a riddle to be solved’. He says ‘The challenge is this; how do you create several individual pictures that must exist independently of one another while, at the same time, coming together to form a cohesive whole with a single identity? In Marshmallow Clouds, each image is a singular thing, joined to just one poem, one thought, one moment in time. However, the poems are framed by the four elements and divided into curated sections that explore themes such as art, food, weatherand emotion. I began by roughing out quick responses to the poems in my sketchbook, reminding myself often that there were no bad ideas and that every squeak of a thought might lead eventually to an interesting solution. Each of Ted and Connie’s poems are incredible, lively, living things. I didn’t know at the time which poem was written by which poet, and I still don’t! Some of the poems are more oblique than others, but all of them inspired pages and pages of sketches. For the most part, those first drawings stayed in the notebooks, but in a few instances, the final artwork kept very close to the initial sketch. The artwork for the poems ‘Winter Ponies’ and ‘Fuel’ are perhaps good examples of how a first response can also be the best. I’m very proud of the book we’ve created. I still enjoy looking through the pages and reading the poems. I hope you will too!’

Petr Horáček faced the challenge of illustrating Nicola Davies’ collection Choose Love, poems which are angry, full of anguish and trauma as well as hope. He explains his approach:

‘Choose Love, is a sequence of very powerful poems, inspired by humanitarian crises we hear and learn about every day. We hear about them, but we stop listening and often refuse to understand. Behind each of Nicola’s poem is a real story of real people. They are the same people as us. To write beautifully about the things we would rather not see, not know about, is the real art. Reading Nicola’s poems, and listening to Nicola telling the stories behind each poem, was an unforgettable experience.

At first, I thought that I’m not the right person to illustrate a book with such an important message. But then I read the poems and I started to paint. Not much thinking, not much sketching. It had to come out straight onto the paper.

Petr Horáček

At first, I thought that I’m not the right person to illustrate a book with such an important message. But then I read the poems and I started to paint. Not much thinking, not much sketching. It had to come out straight onto the paper. I had never experienced anything like that before. The poem ‘Supermarket Flowers’ was the very first poem I illustrated. When I read it for the first time, I realised how very little we know and how often we don’t understand what impact our actions may have on the lives of others. Human beings have a responsibility to look after and care for each other.

When I finished the pictures, I said to Nicola: “This is what I can do. I can’t change anything.” I didn’t know if Nicola would like my work, but I couldn’t do it any other way. Luckily, Nicola liked the illustrations.

Nicola is very talented, professional and passionate about everything she does, full of energy and great fun to be around. She’s also very generous and supportive of my work. That’s something which is quite important if you’re working as a team.”

The winners were announced at a buzzing live ceremony onstage at the Lyttleton Theatre, at the National Theatre on London’s South Bank on Monday 10 July. The shortlisted poets read their poems onstage to a full house, and the CLiPPA Poetry Show also featured live poetry performances by primary school children, winners of the unique CLiPPA Shadowing Scheme. Richard Jones accepted the award on behalf of Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek. Also shortlisted was Blow a Kiss, Catch a Kiss by Joseph Coelho (Andersen Press) which features colour illustrations by Nicola Killen, a carefully considered first collection for the very young, full of poems and illustrations which catch and reflect their emotions.

Find out more via CLPE.