All-star fans for Tassie author

“I got some funny messages like ‘Anne Hathaway is looking for you’”

A TASMANIAN writer and illustrator’s book has been given an epic shout-out by a Hollywood superstar on a TV show broadcast to millions around the world.

Jennifer Cossins, who owns the Red Parka store in Hobart, has been inundated with emails, messages and phone calls after Hollywood actor Anne Hathaway hailed Cossins’ book A Compendium of Collective Nouns as “beautiful” on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “I found out because I woke up at 6.30am and still half asleep saw I had

a message from some random person.

“It read: ‘Are you the person Anne Hathaway is talking about on the Ellen Show?’” Ms Cossins said.

“She sent me the clip and I was lying in bed thinking this is amazing.”

The Devil Wears Prada and Les Miserables star wanted to give the book as a gift to Ellen DeGeneres but could not find a copy.

“I want to give you something specific and I can’t find it anywhere,” Hathaway told DeGeneres.

“It’s this book that somebody gave my son and it’s amazing. “I can’t find it anywhere.” Hathaway then turned and looked directly at the camera pleading with Tasmanians to help her find the elusive book and author.

“If you live in Tasmania and you know someone named Jennifer Skelly, she’s an illustrator and author and she wrote a book called A Com

pendium of Collective Nouns, tell her that Anne Hathaway is looking for a copy for Ellen DeGeneres,” she said.

Ms Cossins, (formerly Skelly) could not believe the massive free publicity she received on a global stage.

“I eventually checked my emails and there were all these inquiries mainly about shipping to America.

“I got some funny messages like ‘Anne Hathaway is looking for you’.”

Ms Cossins self-published the children’s book in 2013 and it has since be re-released by publisher Lothian Children’s Books under the new title 101 Collective Nouns.

“I’ve got 100 copies myself which probably won’t last now,” she said, laughing.

Ms Cossins said she hoped the attention led to a deal with a US publisher and distributor.

“I just love drawing animals and have passion for quirky words and the English language,” she said.