Book launch: Emma Twigg's Inspirational Journey to Olympic Gold, written and illustrated by Jessica Lawry

Cover of the new book about Emma Twigg's journey. Photo /Jessica Lawry

When Emma Twigg started rowing it was difficult and not always fun. But as she stuck at it, she grew to be a world-class rower.

So winning an Olympic medal would be easy, right? Wrong.

This is the remarkable true story of a young New Zealand rower who over 20 years proved she was more than worthy of claiming victory. And how resilience, hard graft, teamwork and self-belief will ultimately bring home gold.

Jessica Lawry met Emma when they were both studying.

"As a friend, I have followed Emma's rowing journey since we met we studied together in 2005, at Waikato University. I knew she had been so close to an Olympic medal at both the London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games. This was despite Emma having such a glowing international rowing career, and many years of incredibly hard work in between Olympic Games," says Jessica.

Friends Emma Twigg and author Jessica Lawry with their new book about Emma's journey. Photo /Emma Twigg

"When she won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, I was thrilled for her as a friend. This sparked the initial idea for a children's picture book,"

"I was particularly taken by her attitude as well as her resilience and perseverance - these
themes really spoke to me as both a parent and primary school teacher - so I was motivated to help her share her story with young readers."

Jessica Lawry is based in Kaipaki, in Waikato. She lives with her husband and three small children. Jessica is a primary school teacher and has a huge passion for educating and inspiring the next generation. Emma is her first children's picture book, where she brings together her love for storytelling and drawing realistic and exciting illustrations.

"I hope the young readers of this book are inspired to follow their dreams and goals, in any aspect of their lives - and that they are reminded that to chase a goal or dream, it takes immense hard work but also a deep drive to keep carrying on - even in the face of failure or difficulty. I hope they are reminded that with this level of dedication, they can achieve anything," says Jessica.

She hopes this book will be accessible to a wide age range of children, "the story is a little sophisticated and is appropriate for slightly older children but the images should be appealing to kids as young as 5 or 6 years".

• Emma Twigg's Inspirational Journey to Olympic Gold, written and illustrated by Jessica Lawry. The book is set to hit the bookstores on Thursday, October 13.

• Author Jessica Lawry will be holding a book signing event at Te Awamutu Paper Plus on Saturday, October 15, at 11am.