WORKING AS A REPORTER of the hard-hitting anti-Marcos Mr. & Ms. Special Edition and as deskperson of the Philippine Daily Inquirer in the 1980s, Candy Quimpo-Gourlay always thought she was the ?wrong kind of writer.?

Last week, an ?enormously and deliriously proud? Gourlay announced that her novel for children ?Tall Story? will be published worldwide next year by the David Fickling Books (DFB), an imprint of Random House, and in the Philippines by Ramon ?RayVi? Sunico of Cacho Publishing House.

?I am enormously proud to announce that my book ?Tall Story? has been taken on by a publisher. And not just any publisher?it?s the legendary David Fickling,? Gourlay said on her website (www.candygourlay.com).

?In a novel packed with humor and quirkiness, Gourlay explores a touching sibling relationship and the comedic results of two very different cultures colliding,? the DFB said in a statement announcing their acquisition of Gourlay?s first full-length novel.

?Tall Story? is an ?outstanding and highly original novel for [children] 10 years old and above,? it added.

DFB editorial director Bella Pearson noted: ?It isn?t often that I am in fits of laughter one minute and in tears the next. ?Tall Story? is one of the warmest, funniest, most moving books I?ve read in a long time?and Candy Gourlay is a rare and new voice in children?s fiction. We are feeling immensely excited (and smug!) to be able to add her name to the DFB list.?

?And I am deliriously proud to announce that I have a publisher in my native Philippines: Ramon Sunico, a fabulous poet and a pioneer in publishing teen fiction in the Philippines,? she added. ?It was so important to me that a Pinoy publisher will be the one who brings my writing to the Filipino public. I am thrilled that RayVi is going to be that publisher.?

In an e-mail to the Inquirer, Gourlay said she was ?relieved somebody actually bought it. There was always a possibility that it was never going to happen.?

Funny, sad and magical

Inspired by the Bernardo Carpio legend and other Philippine folk tales, ?Tall Story? is about an eight-foot tall Filipino boy, Nardo (short for Bernardo), and his Filipino-English sister, Andi (short for Amandolina).

Basketball-mad Andi, 13, hopes that her long-lost half-brother, Bernardo, will turn out tall and just as mad about basketball. When Nardo, 16, finally arrives, he?s not just tall ? he?s a giant.

?[It?s] about basketball, culture clash and belonging. [It?s] funny, sad and [magical] at the same time,? Gourlay said on her website.

Crackling prose

Sunico, manager of Cacho Publishing House, also said: ?From the moment I discovered Candy?s blog and read the crisp, crackling prose of ?Tall Story,? I knew that getting her read here would benefit not only the growing field of Philippine Young Adult lit but inspire many young Filipinos.?

Sunico is a pioneer in bringing teen fiction to the Philippine publishing scene.

The deal with DFB and Sunico was negotiated by Gourlay?s agent, Hilary Delamere, who represents high-profile children?s authors, among them Raymond Briggs, author of ?The Snowman? and Siobhan Dowd, author of ?Bog Child.?

In a statement, DFB said ?Tall Story? will be published in hardback in the United Kingdon in June 2010 and will be launched with widespread digital publicity and buzz. It will be published in the United States later in the year.

A publication date will soon be announced in the Philippines.

DFB is a publisher of quality picture books and fiction, and is home to some of the most best-selling and highly acclaimed authors including Philip Pullman (in the UK only), John Boyne, Mark Haddon (in the UK only) and Jenny Downham. Its authors have won all of the major literary prizes including the Costa Children?s Book of the Year, the Guardian Children?s Fiction Prize, and most recently the Carnegie Medal.

David Fickling Books is an imprint of Random House Children?s Books UK and Random House Children?s Books in the United States and is based in Oxford, England, and New York, USA.

Family, books

Candy moved to the UK in 1989 after she married Richard Gourlay, who was the Manila-based correspondent for the Financial Times of London. In the UK, she became the London correspondent of the news agency Inter Press Service and later the editor of the pan-European magazine Filipinos in Europe. They have three children.

In 2007, Gourlay?s novel, ?Ugly City,? was included in the anthology, ?Undiscovered Voices,? published by the Society of Children?s Book Writers & Illustrators, the only international organization to support both published and unpublished writers and illustrators of children?s books.

In 2005, she wrote and presented a program about the children that Filipino overseas workers left behind in the Philippines for BBC Radio 4. It was titled ?Motherless Nation.?

Gourlay?s short story, ?How to Build a Perfect Sand Castle? was also featured in ?Under the Weather,? a climate change anthology edited by Tony Bradman, editor and author, and published by Frances Lincoln.