The Magic Callaloo

Trish Cooke
Trish Cooke was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Her parents are from Dominica in the West Indies, so she’s “a Yorkshire lass who can speak Dominican patois”. She comes from a large family, with six sisters, three brothers, eight nephews, six nieces, three great-nieces and one great-nephew, all of whom provide her with the inspiration for her picture books. Trish attended Leeds Polytechnic and Ilkley College in 1980, where she gained a degree in performing arts. After moving to London, Trish began to write for television, contributing to the BBC’s children’s programme Playdays, which she presented for nine years. More recently, she has written scripts for the popular Tweenies show. She has written plays and scripts for the theatre, radio and television, including Eastenders. In 2001/2002 she was a BBC Writer in Residence. Trish now lives in Bradford with her partner and their two children. When she was pregnant with her first child, Trish decided to turn her hobby, writing, into a full-time career. “You need to have a sense of humour and imagination to write children’s stories. Adults tend to lose themselves in the seriousness of life, whereas children have a simplistic approach. My five-year-old son reads all my stories and reviews them for me. He’s my best critic.” Trish has won many awards for her children’s books. “So Much” won the 0-5 category of the Nestle Children’s Book Prize, the She/WH Smith’s Under-Fives Book Prize and the Kurt Maschler Award. It was also Highly Commended for the Kate Greenaway Medal and was short listed for both the Sheffield Children’s Book Award and the Nottinghamshire Children’s Book Award.