Joy Cowley

In 1993, Cowley became the third recipient of the Margaret Mahy Award, whose winners present and publish a lecture concerning children's literature or literacy.^[8][9] Cowley's lecture was titled Influences.^[9] The award is presented by the Storylines Childrens Literature Charitable Trust, who established the Joy Cowley Award in 2002, in recognition of the "exceptional contribution Joy Cowley makes to both children's literature and literacy in New Zealand and internationally".^[9][10] In 2004, she became a patron of the Storylines Childrens Literature Foundation, and she is one of Storylines' trustees.^[7] At least one of her books has been on the Storylines Notable Books List every year since it was established in 2000, other than 2009 and 2011 (in 2012 she was given a "special mention").^[3]

In 2002, she was awarded the Roberta Long Medal, presented by the

She won the now defunct Fiction category in 1992 for Bow Down Shadrach, and the Picture Book category in 2002 for Brodie.[3] An additional five of her books have been short-listed as finalists in the Picture Book category at the awards, and an additional three in the Junior Fiction category.^[3]

Cowley's book The Video Shop Sparrow was included in the 2000 White Ravens List, administered by the International Youth Library, and five of her books have been finalists for the Esther Glen Award from 1995 to 2010.^[3] She won Best Script Television Drama at the 1994 TV Guide Television Awards for Mother Tongue, a 52-minute film shot in 1992, and set in 1953, about an 18-year-old couple who fall in love – although the woman (played by Sarah Smuts-Kennedy) is Catholic, and the man (played by Craig Parker) is Jewish.^{[7][11][12][13]}

In the 2005 Queen’s Birthday Honours, Cowley was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM), for services to children's literature.^[14] In 2009, when the New Zealand government restored titular honours, Cowley declined redesignation as a dame.^[15]

Cowley was made a Member of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ), for services to New Zealand, in the 2018 New Year Honours.^[16] In 2020, she received an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icon Award, limited to 20 living people.^[17]

Personal life

Cowley has been married three times, first at twenty years old to dairy farmer Ted Cowley, with whom she had four children. After their marriage ended in 1967, Cowley married Malcolm Mason, a Wellington writer and accountant who died in 1985.^[7]

In 1989, Cowley married Terry Coles,^[7] a former Catholic priest.^[18] She lived with him, and an assortment of animals, for many years in the Marlborough Sounds, but in 2004 they moved to a wharf apartment in Wellington so Coles could be nearer medical services.^[7] As Coles' health deteriorated, Wellington's stairs and traffic became too much for him, and the couple moved again to Featherston, where Cowley now lives.^[7] She has 13 grandchildren and still writes full-time.^[7] Coles died in September 2022.^[19]

Recent publications

• 1986 – Turnips For Dinner, illustrated by Jan van der Voo, 16pp.,
  ISBN 0-87449-368-4
• 1986 – The King's Pudding, illustrated by Martin Bailey, 16pp.,
  ISBN 0-87449-370-6
• 2007 – Snake and Lizard, illustrated by Gavin Bishop, 102pp.,(
  ISBN 978-0-9582787-3-7^[20]
• 2009 – Friends: Snake and Lizard, illustrated by Gavin Bishop, 144pp.,(Gecko Press),
  ISBN 978-1-877467-25-7^[21]
• 2010 – The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate, 40pp.,(Gecko Press),
  ISBN 9781877467400^[22]
• 2011 – Stories of the Wild West Gang, 362pp.,(Gecko Press),
  ISBN 978-1-877467-85-1^[23]
• 2013 – Dunger, 156pp.,(Gecko Press),
  ISBN 978-1-877579-46-2^[24]
• 2014 –
  ISBN 978-1-877579-93-6^[25]
• 2015 – The Bakehouse, 140pp.,(Gecko Press),
  ISBN 978-1-776570-07-2^[26]
• 2016 – The Road to Ratenburg, 200pp.,(Gecko Press)
  ISBN 978-1-776570-75-1^[27]
• 2017 – Helper and Helper, 128pp.,(Gecko Press)
  ISBN 978-1-776571-05-5^[28]
• 2018 - Snake and Lizard Anniversary Edition, illustrated by Gavin Bishop, 102pp.,(Gecko Press)
  ISBN 978-1-877467-25-7 ^[29]