Sue Copsey

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'''Sue Copsey''' is a freelance writer and editor. Several of her books have been shortlisted for or won awards. She lives in [[Auckland]], New Zealand.

== Biography ==
Sue Copsey was born on 28 October 1960 in [[Coventry]].<ref name=":0">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> She grew up in Rugby, England,<ref name=":2">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> and worked as a press officer at [[London Zoo]] for several years before becoming a project editor, and then senior editor for [[Dorling Kindersley]] Children’s Books in London.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>

After moving to New Zealand in 1995,<ref name=":2" /> she worked as a freelance editor for various publishers including Pearson Education, New Holland and Huia Publishing.<ref name=":3">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>  

One of her favourite books as a child was ''Folklore, Myths and Legends of Great Britain'', which featured maps and photographs of haunted areas of Britain.<ref name=":0" /> At [[Halloween|Hallowe’en]], she and her friends would dare each other to walk through the local churchyard, where according to local legend, the mysterious Grey Lady haunted the gravestones.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> She was fascinated by tales of spooks and ghosts but also loved [[The Famous Five (novel series)|The Famous Five]] stories of [[Enid Blyton]].<ref name=":0" />

Her ongoing fascination with stories of history, adventure and mystery later resulted in her Spooky Adventure series of stories featuring ghosts, starting with ''The Ghosts of Young Nick’s Head'', followed by ''The Ghosts of Tarawera'' and ''The Ghosts of Moonlight Creek'', all set in historical New Zealand locations<ref name=":2" /><ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> and based around topics as diverse as [[James Cook|Captain Cook]]’s voyages to New Zealand, the 1886 eruption of [[Mount Tarawera|Mt Tarawera]], and Chinese gold miners in [[Central Otago]].<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref><ref name=":1" /> She has created soundtracks for these books on [[Booktrack]] and ''The Ghosts'' ''of Young Nick's Head'' was number 1 in Booktrack's Most Popular in 2015.<ref name=":3" />

With a group of other writers, she runs an online writing initiative for children called FABO Story<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> and she visits schools as part of the [[New Zealand Book Council]] Writers in Schools programme.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>

Sue Copsey lives in Auckland with her husband and two children.<ref name=":2" />

== Awards and Prizes&nbsp;==
Sue Copsey's first published book, ''Children Just Like Me,'' won the ''[[TES (magazine)|Times Educational Supplement]]'' Best Children’s Non-fiction Book 1995, the Reader’s Digest Best Children’s Non-fiction Book 1995 and the ''Blue Peter'' (BBC) Best Non-fiction Children's Book 1995.<ref name=":3" />

Several of her later books have been named as [[Storylines Children's Literature Foundation of New Zealand Notable Books List|Storylines Notable Books]] and ''The Ghosts of Moonlight Creek'' was a [[Sir Julius Vogel Award]] Finalist in the Best Youth Novel category in 2017.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>

''The Ghosts of Tarawera'' was chosen as a #NZreadaloud title in 2016.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>

In May 2018, Copsey submitted the winning pitch in the Pitch Perfect competition run as part of the [[New Zealand Society of Authors|New Zealand Society of Authors’]] AGM. Vicki Marsdon and Nadine Rubin Nathan of High Spot Literary chose Copsey’s pitch<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> and sold her first adult novel ''Wife After Wife'' – a modern re-telling of the story of [[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII]] - to UK publisher [[Little, Brown Book Group]] as part of a two-book deal for publication in 2019.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref> 

== Bibliography&nbsp; ==
''Children Just Like Me'', co-authored with Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley (Dorling Kindersley, 1995)

''Dorling Kindersley Illustrated Factopedia'' (1994) (contributor)

''Meet Bumble and Friends''; ''Bumble's Missing Drink''; ''Bumble Camps Out'' (with TVNZ) (Random House, 1999)

''Our Children Aotearoa'': ō ''tātou'' ''tamariki'' (Pearson, 2011)

'''Spooky Adventure series:'''

''The Ghosts of Young Nick's Head'' (Treehouse Books, 2012)

''The Ghosts of Tarawera'' (Treehouse Books, 2015)

''The Ghosts of Moonlight Creek'' (Treehouse Books, 2016)

==References==



[[Category:New Zealand writers]]
[[Category:New Zealand women writers]]
[[Category:New Zealand children's writers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
<references />

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