Poppy Nwosu is an author of young adult fiction. She has published three romantic contemporary novels: Making Friends with Alice Dyson (2019), Taking Down Evelyn Tait (2020), and Road Tripping with Pearl Nash (2021), and is the creator of the 2021 Wakefield Press YA anthology Hometown Haunts: #LoveOzYA Horror Tales (a project supported by an Australia Council for the Arts grant).
Her work has been shortlisted for the Adelaide Festival Unpublished Manuscript Award and the Readings Young Adult Book Prize, and has been awarded the SA Writers Fellowship residency at Varuna Writers House, as well as an Arts SA grant. She has appeared at Adelaide Writers' Week and Salisbury Writers' Festival, among others.
Growing up surrounded by cane fields and rainforest, Poppy studied music at university before living overseas in Ireland. She is now based in Australia.
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'Lottie has the worst of intentions, jumps to conclusions, and behaves badly - in short, she's exactly the sort of character I absolutely adore! I reckon Lottie will go down as one of the great characters of OzYA lit - and deservedly so.' - Gabrielle Williams
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'A delicate, layered story about revenge, relationships, and learning to be kind. I adored this one.' - Jodi McAlister
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'I loved the slow widening of Lottie's perspective (and world) and the descriptions of seaside/industrial town, and the tomato plants, and the set piece at the Medieval fair. Sharp, sweet, sonder.' - Simmone Howell
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'Lottie is mischief personified and she is a glorious blaze of magnetic energy on every page.' - C. G. Drews
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'Highly recommended . . . I read this book in one sitting; the main characters drew me in so easily, and I wanted to know what happened. While some of the themes are very familiar - vengeance against the mean girl, rebellion against the step-parent, the childhood friend who turns into a boyfriend - the way they are explored in this novel seems very true to life, and it is so well written. This is not a thriller in the style of The twin by Natasha Preston, though the two books share many themes, Taking down Evelyn Tait is very grounded in real life, sharing more with the loveable You must by Layla by Yassmin Abdel-Magied. Nwosu's book is a sympathetic study of divided families, LGBQTI+ relationships, and developing teenage identity learning to negotiate relationships with others. I thoroughly recommend this book for adolescent readers.' ó Helen Eddy, ReadPlus
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'Lottie is a wonderfully memorable character with a very distinctive voice and a whole lot of attitude. Her witty repartee in her regular meetings with the school principal are particularly delightful. This story has understated diversity in family groupings, ethnicity and sexuality that is just part of their everyday lives, as it should be. Poppy Nwosu captures the uncertainties and jealousies of high school perfectly, with her story mining similar territory to her Readings YA Prize shortlisted debut, Making Friends with Alice Dyson, to excellent effect. This is an utterly delightful read that you will devour like a cheeky bar of chocolate. Suitable for readers aged 12+.' - Angela Crocombe, manager of Readings Kids
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'Taking Down Evelyn Tait is a joyous journey of teenage discovery that is full of humour and embarrassing truths. As family dynamics and friendships change, it shows how healing one part of your life can open up new worlds of possibility.' - Lezly Herbert, OUTinPerth
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'Nwosu brilliantly evokes the intensity with which teens live in the present … The story romps along at a brisk pace: adventure follows adventure, plots and counter-plots abound, there is never a dull moment. And Lottie, whether in spite of or because of her peccadillos, endears herself to the reader to the extent that when you get to the end of the book, you still wish for more.' - Erich Mayer, ArtsHub