Davina Bell

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Davina Bell
BornPerth, Western Australia
Alma materRMIT University
Notable worksThe End of the World Is Bigger than Love
Notable awards
  • Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature, 2021
  • CBCA Book of the Year Awards — Book of the Year: Older Readers, 2021

Davina Bell is an Australian literary editor and children's writer. Her 2020 book, The End of the World Is Bigger than Love, won a New South Wales Premier's Literary Award in 2021.

Early life and education[edit]

Bell was born in Perth, Western Australia. She graduated in law at university there, but then enrolled in Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT University in Melbourne.[1]

Career[edit]

With two others, Bell co-founded the literary journal Harvest and published its first edition in 2008.[2]

She was children's editor at Penguin, where she worked on their list with authors including Mem Fox and Margaret Wild.[3] She subsequently moved Affirm Press to edit their children's list of writers including Alison Lester and Jane Godwin[4] and then to Allen & Unwin where she work on their children and young-adult list.[1]

Writing[edit]

Bell wrote a series of four books set in 1918 about a West Australian girl called Alice, who wanted to be a dancer.[5] The stories part of Penguin's Our Australian Girl series[6] and were republished in 2014 as The Alice stories.[7]

Her next book, The Underwater Fancy-Dress Parade, won the 2016 Australian Book Industry Awards Small Publishers' children's book of the year,[8] as well as two book design awards for its illustrator/designer Allison Colpoys.[9]

Her 2018 book, All the Ways to be Smart, won the Children's picture book of the year at the 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards.[10]

At the 2021 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards she won the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature for The End of the World Is Bigger than Love.[11] She also won the 2021 CBCA Book of the Year for older readers for the same book.[12]

As of 2022 five of her books have been named Notable Books at the CBCA Book of the Year Awards and her works have been shortlisted for many other Australian literary awards.[1]

Selected works[edit]

Stand-alone[edit]

  • Bell, Davina (29 February 2016). The underwater fancy-dress parade. Colpoys, Allison (illustrator). Scribe Publications (published 2014). ISBN 978-1-925321-27-2.
  • —— (18 July 2016). Oh, Albert!. Acton, Sara (illustrator). Penguin/Viking (published 2016). ISBN 978-0-670-07860-8.
  • —— (27 February 2017). Under the love umbrella. Colpoys, Allison (illustrator). Scribble (published 2017). ISBN 978-1-925321-26-5.
  • —— (15 October 2018). All the ways to be smart. Colpoys, Allison (illustrator). Scribble (published 2018). ISBN 978-1-925713-43-5.
  • —— (September 2019). The secret life of Lola. Hardie Grant Egmont (published 2019). ISBN 978-1-76050-403-8.
  • —— (October 2019). All of the factors of why I love tractors. Lovlie, Jenny (illustrator). Little Hare Books (published 2019). ISBN 978-1-76050-145-7.
  • —— (2020). How to be a Real Ballerina. Lovlie, Jenny (illustrator). Little Hare Books.
  • —— (2 June 2020). The End of the World Is Bigger than Love. Text Publishing (published 2020). ISBN 978-1-925923-35-3.
  • —— (9 November 2021). Tomorrow is a brand-new day. Colpoys, Allison (illustrator). Scribble (published 2021). ISBN 978-1-925849-46-2.

The Alice series[edit]

  • Bell, Davina (2012). Meet Alice. Masciullo, Lucia (illustrator). Penguin Group Australia. ISBN 978-0-14-330629-0.
  • —— (26 April 2012). Alice and the Apple Blossom Fair. Masciullo, Lucia (illustrator). Penguin Group Australia (published 2012). ISBN 978-1-74253-511-1.
  • —— (2 July 2012). Alice of Peppermint Grove. Masciullo, Lucia (illustrator). Penguin Group Australia (published 2012). ISBN 978-1-74253-568-5.
  • —— (22 August 2012). Peacetime for Alice. Masciullo, Lucia (illustrator). Penguin Group Australia (published 2012). ISBN 978-1-74253-642-2.

Corner Park Clubhouse series[edit]

  • Bell, Davina (September 2020). Sophia and the Corner Park clubhouse. Hardie Grant Egmont (published 2019). ISBN 978-1-76050-397-0.
  • —— (September 2019). The secret life of Lola. Hardie Grant Egmont (published 2019). ISBN 978-1-76050-403-8.

Lemonade Jones series[edit]

  • Bell, Davina (29 August 2018). Lemonade Jones. Blair, Karen (illustrator). Allen & Unwin (published 2018). ISBN 978-1-925266-73-3.
  • —— (2019). Lemonade Jones and the great school fete. Blair, Karen (illustrator). Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-925266-74-0.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Davina Bell". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  2. ^ Edmonds, Phillip (1 March 2015). Tilting at Windmills: the literary magazine in Australia, 1968–2012. University of Adelaide Press. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-925261-05-9.
  3. ^ "A year in children's books: publishers' top junior picks for 2013". Books+Publishing. 1 February 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  4. ^ "Introducing Affirm Press kids list". Books+Publishing. 19 July 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  5. ^ Bell, Davina (2012), Meet Alice, Masciullo, Lucia (illustrator), Penguin Group (Australia), ISBN 978-0-14-330629-0
  6. ^ "Our Australian Girl". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  7. ^ Bell, Davina (11 November 2014), The Alice stories, Masciullo, Lucia (illustrator), Penguin Group (Australia) (published 2014), ISBN 978-1-74348-548-4
  8. ^ "A&U, NewSouth win industry awards at 2016 ABIAs; Szubanski's Reckoning named Book of the Year". Books+Publishing. 20 May 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  9. ^ "Australian Book Design Awards 2016 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  10. ^ "Pan Macmillian and Affirm win at 2019 ABIAs; Boy Swallows Universe wins book of the year". Books+Publishing. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  11. ^ "NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2021 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 27 April 2021. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  12. ^ "CBCA Book of the Year 2021 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 20 August 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2022.

External links[edit]

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