The Caterpillar Poetry Prize, which is for unpublished poems written by adults for children and now in its tenth year, has been won again by its inaugural victor, Louise Greig. UK children’s laureate Joseph Coelho found her poem, Foster Child, to be “a highly accomplished beautiful piece of writing”. “My goodness, I am quite stunned and overwhelmed!” Greig said.
“What an honour to be reconnected with the glorious Caterpillar Poetry Prize! Thanks to Rebecca and Will for everything they do to keep children’s poetry alive, and enormous thanks to Joseph Coelho, who has my greatest respect in the children’s poetry landscape. This has given me such a boost and will give me a lovely injection of motivation and much needed confidence with my writing.” Winning The Caterpillar Poetry Prize in 2015 opened the door of opportunity to a lifelong dream of writing children’s picture books for Greig.
She has now had 13 picture books published, with more in the pipeline, and she is also working on a middle-grade novel in verse. In recent years Louise has been shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the Teach Primary Book Awards, among others, and won the Manchester Writing for Children Competition and the Wigtown Poetry Prize. She lives in Aberdeen where she spends much of her time reading and gardening and is obsessed with animals.
Foster Child ‘I don't like being called a foster child.’ ‘Then we'll change the letters around. We'll call you a fore.
