In Ecstasy wins Family Therapists’ Award

Western Australian author Kate McCaffrey has won the Australian Family Therapists’ Award for Children’s Literature in the Older Readers Category.

McCaffrey said it was fantastic to have her novel In Ecstasy acknowledged by the Association which chooses books based on both their standard of writing and on their emphasis on family themes and support networks.

She said she’d had feedback from some kids that the novel had made them think about where they could end up if they were to take drugs.

“Hopefully kids will read In Ecstasy before they go down that path,” said McCaffrey.

Fremantle Press Children’s Publisher Cate Sutherland said it was the second time McCaffrey had received recognition from the Australian and New Zealand Family Therapists’ Association.

“Kate’s first book Destroying Avalon was highly commended in 2006.

“It is heartening to see In Ecstasy winning this award because there seems to be little available for young adult readers that tackles teenage drug use without taking the moral high ground,” said Sutherland.

In Ecstasy was also published in North America by Annick Press earlier this year. It charts the lives of two best friends who both try ecstasy with very different results.

The book has been very successful in Australia with a reprint on the way.

McCaffrey is currently working on a third novel to be published by Fremantle Press in 2010.

She will be a guest of the Singapore Writers Festival on 24-26 October, 2009.

About the Award
The annual Australian Family Therapists’ Award for Children’s Literature is awarded by Family Therapy Associations throughout Australia. A book for older readers, and one for younger readers, is awarded $1000 each for being the best books of the year to be useful for therapists in practice. A list of books recommended for use by therapists is also announced by ANZJFT. The award is in its 22nd year.

The author is available for interview.