Candy Gourlay & her uplifting stories

This week on wonder | wander | world our pick of the week is Candy Gourlay - London based Filipino author of fiction for children and young adults. 

the author

Candy Gourlay was born in the Philippines, grew up under a dictatorship and met her husband during a revolution. Growing up, she wondered why books only featured pink-skinned children who lived in worlds that didn't resemble her tropical home in Manila.

at the 6th Filipino American International Book Festival, SFO

It took her years to learn that Filipino stories too, belong in the pages of books. Her novel Bone Talk was recently shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Costa Prize. She lives in London with her family, where she wages war on the snails in her garden.

Her multi-awarded books have brought joy to many readers, young and older.

Osnat Barazani | the world's first female rabbi

Osnat and Her Dove : The True Story of the World's First Female Rabbi, School And Library is written by Sigal Samuel and illustrated by Vali Mintzi. 

book cover (Levine Querido)

Journalist and novelist Sigal Samuel honors her Iraqi Jewish heritage with picture book about Osnat Barazani, the world's first female rabbi who led a sixteenth century Mosul yeshiva for Kurdish Jewry. 

TILAOK for Ruben de Jesus

Ruben De Jesus is a children’s book illustrator, a graphic designer, and a professor at the Department of Visual Communication, College of Fine Arts, University of the Philippines Diliman.

Ruben de Jesus, the artist

He is a founder of “Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan” (Ang INK; the Illustrator of the Youth) and the Sectoral Representative for Illustrators of the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY).

His illustrations in Ang Mahiyaing Manok established a distinct style recognized and honored in visual and children’s literary art circles.

on the topic of books: Brain Pickings

Illustrating a children's book, especially one with shades of autobiography, presents a unique window into a writer's mind. We can see the things they love and look back on, and maybe confront our own self-doubt. Maybe it's our chance to try art that is new and challenging, to us as well as readers.

On the topic of illustrated children's books, we were reminded of one of our favourite blogs: Brain Pickings.

Brain Pickings is the blog of writer Maria Popova, collecting inspirations, reflections, and creative processes from the world's greatest minds. The blog often features unusual, lesser-known, or especially beautiful illustrated books. Read their retrospective of Alice in Wonderland illustrators, or this child-friendly primer on how babies are made, for examples of Brain Pickings's eclectic taste.