The Girl Who Became a Tree

Award-winning poet and author Joseph Coelho breaks new ground with his first novel in verse. The Girl Who Became a Tree is a powerful and mesmerising exploration of grief and renewal

Daphne is unbearably sad and adrift. She feels the painful loss of her father acutely and seeks solace both in the security of her local library and the escape her phone screen provides by blocking out the world around her. As Daphne tries to make sense of what has happened she recalls memories of shared times and stories past, and in facing the darkness she finds a way back from the tangle of fear and confusion, to feel connected once more with her friends and family. The Girl Who Became a Tree sees Joseph Coelho deploy a wide variety of poetic forms with consummate skill in its narration of events. He seamlessly but searingly weaves together the ancient legend of Daphne, who was turned into a tree to avoid the attentions of the god Apollo, and a totally modern tale, mixing real-life and fantasy, in which a latter-day Daphne seeks her own freedom. This a heart-stoppingly imaginative story told in poems, at times bleak and even tragic, which is layered, rich and ultimately a tour de force of poetic skill and energy

About the Author

Joseph Coelho is a performance poet and playwright. His debut poetry collection Werewolf Club Rules is published by Frances Lincoln and won the CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award 2015. Joseph has been a guest poet on Radio 4’s Front Row and has performed poems for Channel 4 and CBeebies Radio. He has written plays for young people for the Theatre Royal York, Pied Piper, Polka and The Unicorn Theatres, and Servants in a Council Flat, a play by Joseph for adults, received a special commendation from the Verity Bargate Award and was long-listed for The Bruntwood Playwriting Competition. As well as poetry and plays, Joseph also writes picture books including Luna Loves Library Day (Andersen Press) and non-fiction books including How To Write Poems (Bloomsbury). All of his work has poetry and an element of performance at its heart making his festival and school sessions dynamic occasions. Joseph is a staunch ambassador for Britain's straitened public libraries. He lives in Kent.

About the Illustrator

Kate Milner studied illustration at Central St Martin’s before completing an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Anglia Ruskin University. Kate won the V&A Illustration Award 2016 and the Klaus Flugge Prize 2018 for My name is not Refugee. Kate is particularly passionate about libraries; she continues to be involved with every kind of activity from Storytime for toddlers to teen reading groups at her local library. Her most recent book is It's a No-Money Day (2019, Barrington Stoke).