Is it a Mermaid?

Growing up in the Philippines at a time when most books were imported from the West, Candy Gourlay wondered why all the books she ever loved only featured pink-skinned children who lived in snow-covered worlds that didn’t resemble her steamy, tropical home in Manila. As a result, she took many detours on her way to becoming an author. She worked as a journalist, a cartoonist, a fake American voiceover talent and a web designer – before finally becoming an author of children’s books.

Candy's first novel for primary school children, Tall Story, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Branford Boase Prize. Her second book, Shine, was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Book Prize, and both novels won the Crystal Kite Prize. Other books by Candy include Bone Talk, a historical novel set in the Philippines, and picture books Is It a Mermaid and Mike Falls Up.

Candy is an ardent member of the international "kid-lit" organisation, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). She is currently serving on the Children’s Writers’ and Illustrators’ Group of the Society of Authors. She lives in London with her family, where she wages war on the snails in her garden.

Candy Gourlay is a former Writer in Residence for BookTrust.