FEATURE Antoinette Brooks

 


Meet the amazing and multi talented Antoinette Brooks who not only won the Jericho Prize in 2023 but also interviewed herself!

 


I’ve been asked to write about my experiences since winning the Jericho Prize in 2023. Normally, this would take the form of an interview, so for this article, I thought it would be fun to interview myself!

 

How did you first hear about the Jericho Prize?

 

I first heard about the Jericho Prize when a writing friend encouraged me to enter the competition. I submitted a story about a young girl impatiently baking a traditional Caribbean cake with her grandmother. I didn’t think for a moment that I would make the shortlist, let alone win. I remember hyperventilating when my name was announced! The prize came with a publishing contract with Scholastic, and a year’s worth of mentoring too, and an illustration of a scene from my story by Ken Wilson Max which I’ve framed and has pride of place in my living room.

 


How did you feel when you won the Jericho Prize?

 

I remember on the evening, they had some really talented children who read excerpts from each story that made the shortlist. I thought all of the texts were so excellent that I didn’t expect to be announced as the winner at all, so I was shocked to say the least. I felt overwhelmed and grateful to the judges. It was part of a rollercoaster year for me in the end. I had just won the Golden Egg Academy award, and later on that year I was named first runner-up in the Mo Siewcharran Award and Highly Commended in the Fab Prize. So 2023 was a very special year for me, and I’ll always be thankful for it and the opportunities it gave me.

 

 

What have you been doing since you won the Jericho Prize?

 

It’s been a time of growth, with the chance to try new things. I was fortunate enough to be placed in a couple more writing competitions, and through one of them I met my agent, Emily Talbot of United Agents. I’ve had some of my poems included in the SPIN! anthology which celebrates emerging black and Asian children’s poets, and I even had the chance to run a poetry workshop at Southbank Imagine Festival which was pretty nerve-wracking at the time! I’ve also had a book, The Boy at the Back of the Bus, about the childhood of Martin Luther King Jr published by Collins Big Cats for the educational market, last autumn. And yes, I’m definitely still pinching myself!

 


When is your book with the Jericho Prize due for publication?

 

At the moment I’m going through the editing process with Scholastic, and the mentoring sessions too with Becky Brown, their wonderful picture book editor. Receiving feedback from someone with so much expertise is invaluable. I can’t quite share a date though – one thing I’m learning is, like baking the perfect cake, publishing picture books takes time.

 

 

What is your writing process?

 

Oh I have ideas swirling around, and when it seems right I write them down. Or sometimes I force myself to write to a timed prompt. It’s almost as if my brain enjoys the pressure of a deadline. I don’t really plan my stories in detail initially. My worst habit though is that I tend to write stories on random scraps of paper, which is a nightmare to organise afterward.

 


What’s next for you?

 

I’m also an illustrator, and right now I’m part way through completing illustrations for a second Collins Big Cats title that comes out in the Spring. It’s called The Secret Diary of Joynina K Jones. It’s about a 13 year old girl, and how she navigates life, friendships, family plus an ongoing illness. I’m excited about this because it’s a middle-grade story, so a variation from my first love of picture books and poetry, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to explore a main character who so happens to have a disability, but the story itself isn’t about that. It’s about the entirety of her life as a young teenage girl with a fun and positive storyline. I’m also completing edits for some picture book texts, and then I’m going to write down a couple of stories which have been swirling around in my head for a while. It’s amazing to have won the Jericho Prize and the opportunities which have come with it. I’d definitely encourage any aspiring authors to enter this year and see where the journey takes them.

 

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Antoinette Brooks is a writer, poet and illustrator. Born and raised in London to parents of the Windrush generation, she fell in love with the power of stories whilst listening to the memories of their childhood in rural Jamaica. She is the winner of the Jericho Prize for Best Picture Book Script, and she creatively uses her experiences of ethnicity and disability to craft stories for children that are celebratory, uplifting and colourful.

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