Hope Vale’s Wanda Gibson launches her debut book in community, with son Mayor Bruce Gibson opening the event. Photo: Supplied.
She is now a nationally acclaimed author, but Hope Vale’s Wanda Gibson is staying true to the humble roots her award-winning picture book Three Dresses is based on.
Hope Vale locals packed the Pioneer Hall on 2 July for a special lunchtime launch of Ms Gibson’s debut book, which won the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature category of the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards earlier this year, making history as the first children’s book to claim the prize since the award’s establishment in 1985.
Ms Gibson, who is also a well-respected artist in her community, said the launch was well supported.
“They enjoyed it very much; they didn’t know about the book until it came out,” she said.
Family and friends beamed with pride at the event, with her son, Hope Vale Aboriginal Shire Council Mayor Bruce Gibson, opening the launch, and community members sharing heartfelt stories and words of congratulations.
Growing up in the Hope Vale mission, Ms Gibson said her family did not have much, but cherished what they did have, and that gratitude was the message she hoped to share with the younger generation.
“I wanted people to read the book and see how we lived in our time,” she said.
“That was the main thing for writing the book, so that children can read it and see what they got now, we didn’t have.”
