New Zealand Writers

COWLEY, Joy

Cowley began writing for children to help her son Edward who, like her, was slow to learn reading skills.

Author entry from The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, edited by Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie (1998). [About the Companion entries]

COWLEY, Joy (1936– ), fiction writer for children and adults, was born in Levin and educated at Palmerston North GHS and Pharmacy College. She has been published so widely and to such acclaim that she received a Commemoration Medal in 1990, the OBE in 1992 for her services to children’s literature, the Margaret Mahy Award Lecture in 1993 and an honorary doctorate from Massey University in 1993.

The publisher’s notice for Heart Attack and Other Stories (1985) states that ‘during her adult life she has had many occupations: artist, freelance photographer, builder’s labourer, farm worker, pharmaceutical apprentice, newspaper children’s page editor, housewife, mother and writer’. Elsewhere she has noted her ‘interests’ as ‘spinning, weaving, woodwork, sailing, fishing and an isolated farm on Marlborough Sounds’.

Married to Ted Cowley in 1956, she first tried to develop as a painter but then decided to begin writing seriously in 1960 when pregnant with her fourth child, sending two or three short stories to the NZ Listener each month. Although she sent in twenty-nine stories before one was accepted, she has always acknowledged that the editor, M.H. Holcroft, was her main mentor and early supporter.

When a short story from Landfall was republished in the USA, Doubleday, a major US publisher, wrote asking for a novel. She had none to send, but wrote Nest in a Falling Tree in six months. It was published by Doubleday in 1967 to enthusiastic reviews and was made into a film, scripted by Roald Dahl, with his wife, Patricia Neal, in the leading role. It is a story of passion, a love affair between a 17-year-old boy, Red, and Maura, an older woman. Maura’s mother, whom she is nursing, rejects Red, but dies of an overdose of medicine. Public opinion gradually turns against Maura, and when Red does too she finds herself alone.

To follow up this initial success Cowley wrote four more novels in the next decade before devoting herself entirely to writing for young people. Man of Straw (1972) tells of a summer in the life of a small-town family, seen mainly through the eyes of two daughters, Rosalind, aged 13, and Miranda, aged 22. Rosalind is puzzled by the passions that develop when her father is accused of seducing Miranda’s friend Julie-Ann and a sense of mystery is resolved when it is revealed that he has also had an affair with Julie-Ann’s mother. The people of the town throw stones at the house and kill the family dog. Rosalind runs away from home and collapses, wilfully or by accident, into the sea.

Passions are more restrained in Of Men and Angels (1972), which contrasts one woman, who pursues a career and has casual affairs, with another, who is unhappily married and looks for satisfaction in Catholicism and good causes. Their emotions focus on to a pregnant teenager, but it remains undecided which way of life is more satisfactory. It was followed by The Mandrake Root (1975), a study of a person who has recovered from mental illness, but lives on the verge between illness and health. The Growing Season (1979) contrasts family reactions to the coming death of James. Some are resigned, others upset, but he accepts his situation as a part of the natural order.

Heart Attack and Other Stories (1985) collects stories from various periods, the first twelve forming a loose sequence showing the journey from youth to middle age. Included is Cowley’s best-known story, the often anthologised ‘The Silk’. The Complete Short Stories was published in 1997.

Cowley began writing for children to help her son Edward who, like her, was slow to learn reading skills. Her first picture book, which uses humour to carry a serious anti-war statement, was The Duck and the Gun, illustrated by Edward Sorel and published in New York in 1969, the same year as the beginning of Margaret Mahy’s remarkable publishing career. It was republished in 1985 with new illustrations by Robyn Belton, which won the Russell Clark Award in 1985.

Other notable picture books include The Terrible Taniwha of Timberditch, illustrated by Rodney McRae (1982), which explores different cultural versions of dragons; Salmagundi, illustrated by Philip Webb (1985), which carries another, more sophisticated anti-war message; and The Screaming Mean Machine, illustrated by David Cox (1993), which looks at the difficulty of overcoming fear.

Cowley’s short stories have featured on radio and in Two of a Kind (1984) in collaboration with Mona Williams and in Beyond the River (1994); she has also had a play produced, ‘The Haunting of Frogwash Farm’ (1988). Like Mahy, Cowley has also become a prolific creator of entertaining and predominantly humorous readers, with a total of more than 400 books for the ‘Storybox’ series and for Wendy Pye Publishing.

She now spends about three months in every year overseas, working with teachers on early reading and children’s difficulties, and running writing workshops. But it is mainly for her children’s novels that Cowley has won awards. The Silent One, illustrated by Sherryl Jordan (1981), won the 1982 inaugural Children’s Book of the Year Award for its sensitive, poetic and mythic qualities.

It became a feature film, released in 1985 with notable music by Jenny McLeod. It tells the story of a deaf boy on a Pacific island who befriends a white turtle and struggles to survive his isolated tribe’s superstition and fears when the village is afflicted by a drought and a hurricane, brought on, so the tribe believes, because the turtle is an evil spirit from the depths of the sea.

In 1992 Bow Down Shadrach, illustrated by Robyn Belton (1991), won the AIM Book of the Year for its portrayal of twists and difficulties in family love concerning, in particular, an old horse at the end of its life. The sequel, Gladly, Here I Come, appeared in 1994.

Cowley now lives in the Marlborough Sounds, providing the hospitality of ‘Te Aroha’ to people suffering social difficulty. She contributed a statement of her view of life to What I Believe, edited by Allan Thomson (1993). DH/NW

Updated Information

The Joy Cowley Award for children’s writers – offering a monetary prize, the opportunity to work with Joy Cowley herself and the eventual publication of a picture book – was announced in 2002 by the Children’s Literature Foundation and publisher Scholastic New Zealand.

Cowley's novel for adults, Classical Music (2000), was a finalist in the fiction category of the 2000 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

Her children's non-fiction picture book Red-Eyed Tree Frog (2000) was nominated for an award in the 2000 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards, and Shadrach Girl (2000) won the Junior Fiction category of the 2001 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards.

Other publications for children include Apple Banana Cherry (2000), Cricket's Storm (2000), and Brodie (2001). Brodie was written in response to teachers' requests for stories about the loss of a classmate. It tells the story of schoolboy Brodie and of how his classmates come to terms with his death from cancer.

Cowley's novel for adults, Holy Days, and two new books for children Pudding and Eating Plums in Bed were also published in 2001.

Cowley's following titles were Pigeon Princess, A modern fantasy (2002), the story of Lottie who lives in a tower who is about to discover that dreams really do come true; Duck Walk (2002); Weta (2002), a photographic look at the life of the Weta; The Sea Daughter (2002) with the Maori language edition Te Tamahine a Te Moana and Tulevai and the Sea (2002) also with a Maori language edition, Ko Tulevai me te moana (2002).

Brodie was the winner in the Picture Book category for the 2002 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards. In 2002 Cowley was also awarded the Roberta Long Medal in Alabama, USA.

Weta: A Knight in Shining Armour (2002) was shortlisted for the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 2003.

Froghopper (2002) Flea, Pete and Libby's Mum and Dad decide to take them sailing around the Marlborough sounds for a year; but when Pete sees Froghopper, the old boat they're going to live on, he wonders whether they'll even last a day.

Mrs Wishy-Washy's Farm (2003) by Joy Cowley and Elizabeth Fuller has sold over 40 million copies world-wide. Mrs Wishy-Washy scrubs and rubs all the animals on the farm, until they decide to run away to the big smoke...

Froghopper and the Paua Poachers: More Adventures with the Fabulous Green Team (2003). Flea, Pete and Libby Green thought they'd caught the paua poachers, but they hadn't counted on some of the gang still being on the loose.

The Little Tractor (2004), written by Joy Cowley and illustrated by Gavin Bishop is a book for 3 to 6 year olds. The little tractor starts its working life on a farm where it does a good job - but the family grows up and things change and the tractor is retired to sit in the local car yard. One interesing character after the other buys the tractor until the son of the first farmer buys it for his new farm.

Joy Cowley received the A W Reed Award for Contribution to New Zealand Literature at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2004. The award is presented biennially in recognition of an outstanding contribution to New Zealand literature and an involvement in activities which foster and promote literature to wider audiences.

Greedy Cat and the School Pet Show, written by Joy Cowley and illustrated by Robyn Belton (Scholastic, 2004). Kate is determined to take Greedy Cat to the school pet show, but Greedy Cat doesn't want to go...

Joy Cowley was made a Distinguished Companion of New Zealand Order of Merit for services to children's literature at the 2005 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Two of Cowley's books were finalists in the LIANZA Children's Book Awards 2005. Tarakihana Pakupaku (Scholastic), translated by Katerina Mataira was a finalist for the Te Kura Pounamu Award and Wild West Hullabaloo (HarperCollins) was a finalist for The Esther Glen Award.

Hunter (Puffin Books, 2005), won the Junior Fiction category of the 2006 New Zealand Post Awards for Children and Young Adults and the 2006 New Zealand Post Book of the Year award. In this riveting book, Cowley brings together two very different worlds, providing a rare glimpse of the remarkable human spirit that connects us all

Tulevai and the Sea (2006), was published by Scholastic. Joy Cowley and Robyn Belton also released Greedy Cat and Sneeze (Scholastic, 2006).

Snake and Lizard (Gecko Press, 2007), written by Joy Cowley and illustrated by Gavin Bishop won the Junior Fiction section as well as Book of the Year for the 2008 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

Ticket to the Sky Dance (Puffin, 2008) is a story of orphans who get drawn into a web of deceit in the modelling world.

Chicken Feathers (Puffin, 2008) is a fun chapter book for young readers.

Starbright and the Dream Eater (Puffin, 2008).