Local poet Yvonne Ugarte has published a book of children’s poems, beautifully illustrated by pupils from Beeston Primary School where she works.
Yvonne has been writing poetry for fifty years starting aged 5 when she was in foster care. She lost her son, Emil, to Meningitis when he was just 22 months old and the book is dedicated to him. Funds from the sale of the book will go to Martin House Children’s Hospice where, as Yvonne says “Emil was so lovingly looked after by the incredible people there.”
‘My Aunt Jean’s A Dinosaur’ isn’t Yvonne’s first published work. It was back in 1987 when her first book of poetry was published and she has appeared in podcasts and on radio as well as being published in over 30 anthologies since then. Yvonne also runs online writing classes for older people with Time To Shine.
Having worked at Beeston Primary school for 14 years it seemed natural to involve the children in illustrating the book. Yvonne explains:
“Mrs Tidey, the Deputy Head, agreed with me that it would be a good idea to run a competition throughout school where children could draw an animal or character from a list that I gave each class of those in my book.
“My editor, Kathleen, selected the 37 diverse, unique and colourful illustrations that are used in the book – the remainder are to be displayed within school as a positive record of their artwork” says Yvonne.
This beautiful book is available to purchase for £8 per signed copy or £10 with post and packing. Please contact yvonne.beeston@virgin.net for payment details. All profits from the sale of this book go to Martin House Children’s Hospice.
“Thank you so much, Kathleen and David at Runcible Spoon, for putting this all together for me, to all the incredible little artists from my school and to my Angel son, Emil, for being my inspiration.”
