ANTHONY
HILL
Anthony Hill is the author of 15 books for
both children and adults. Born in Melbourne in 1942, he has
lived in and around Canberra for many years. A former journalist
and speech-writer for the Governor-General, he is now a full-time
author.
His
first book was The Bunburyists (Penguin, 1985)
telling how, with his wife and daughter, the family dropped
out
to run an antique shop in a country village for five
years.
This was followed by the highly successful Antique
Furniture in Australia (Viking/Penguin, 1985)
which was in print until very recently.
     
Anthony
Hill began his books for children with Birdsong (1988),
followed by the award-winning The
Burnt Stick (Viking/Penguin) illustrated
by Mark Sofilas. It was the Christian Children's
Book of the Year in 1995 and was awarded an honour book
for Younger Readers by the Children's Book Council
of Australia.
Anthony
Hill and Mark Sofilas produced Spindrift (Penguin,)
a CBCA notable book for
1996, the same year in which
Anthony Hill published The Grandfather Clock (Lothian).
His collection
of short stories Growing Up & Other Stories was
published by Ginninderra Press in Canberra, and was
a CBCA notable
book in 1999.
In 2001
Anthony Hill published a best-selling biographical novel, Soldier
Boy (Penguin),
telling the true story
of Jim Martin, the youngest-known Anzac. This won
the 2002
NSW Premier’s
Literary Award (Ethel Turner Prize) and was an honour
book in the CBCA awards.
In February
2002 Penguin published a children’s ghost
story, Forbidden, again illustrated
by Mark Sofilas. In September that year Penguin
also published another
WWI biographical
novel by Anthony Hill, Young Digger,
as a companion book to Soldier Boy. It is the true
story of a French
war orphan,
adopted as a mascot and smuggled to Australia by
a returning air squadron in 1919.
The
Shadow Dog, a memoir of Anthony Hill's own dog,
Sebastian, was published in 2003, illustrated
by Andrew McLean. In March 2005 Penguin published
Animal Heroes, a collection
of 21 stories about the dogs, horses, pigeons,
mascots and other animals who have served with
Australia's armed
forces in peace and war from Gallipoli to the
present.
 
In 2006 Anthony Hill
published Harriet (Penguin), illustrated by Coral Tulloch. This
book recreates the life of Harriet, a Galapagos tortoise, who
died in Queensland only recently and was believed to be around
175 years old. Also published in 2006 was River Boy (National
Museum of Australia Press), illustrated by Donna
Rawlins. Part
of the National Museum's Making Tracks series, River
Boy tells
of Nat Shannon who runs away from his uncle's farm to join the
river boats. In 2007 Anthony published his first picture book
for very young readers, Lucy's Cat and the Rainbow Birds, illustrated
by Jane Tanner, and this became a Notable Book in the Early Childhood
category of the 2008 CBCA Awards.
 
With the assistance
of a grant from the Australia Council, Anthony has researched
and written a biographical novel based
on the life of one the young servant boys who sailed with Captain
Cook on board HM Bark Endeavour This latest book, Captain Cook’s Apprentice has won the NSW Premier’s 2009 Young People’s History Prize.
For more information go to www.anthonyhillbooks.com
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