Kerry was born in Canada and grew up in a world of pets, from turtles to cats, dogs, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, rats, a dove, snakes, goldfish, rabbits, a horse, a bat, two brothers and a monkey. She studied zoology, then took herself to Australia with a backpack and became a rural vet. One day…
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Sophie was born in Jakarta in 1959 to French parents but spent much of her early childhood with her grandmother in France before coming to live in Australia in 1963. Her upbringing was truly multicultural as French was spoken at home and she regularly travelled back to the tiny south-western French village of Empeaux. From…
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Sofie Laguna originally studied to be a lawyer, but after deciding law was not for her, she trained as an actor. Sofie is now an author, actor and playwright. Her books for young people have been named Honour Books and Notable Books in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards and…
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Elizabeth Honey is a writer and illustrator of poetry, picture books and novels for children. Her work is always full of fun, with action packed stories, lively characters and zany illustrations. She is probably best known for her novel 45 & 47 Stella Street and everything that happened which was a CBCA Honour Book, and…
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Jackie French’s writing career spans fourteen years, 38 wombats, 120 books, translations into eighteen languages, 8 genres, 3,721 bush rats, the odd award (well, actually, they’re not that odd), six possibly insane lyrebirds, assorted Burke’s Backyard segments, radio shows, newspaper and magazine columns, theories of pest and weed ecology and 27 shredded back doormats. The…
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Margaret Clark is one of Australia’s best loved (and most prolific!) authors. She has published more than sixty books since the success of her debut novel, Pugwall, in 1987. She writes for all ages – from early readers (Ripper and Fang, Snap, Crackle and Pop in the Aussie Bites series) to later primary with the…
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Frances Watts spent nearly ten years working with some of Australia’s most talented children’s authors and illustrators as an editor before writing a book of her own. Her bestselling picture book Kisses for Daddy (illustrated by David Legge) was named an Honour Book in the Early Childhood category of the 2006 Children’s Book Council of…
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Erin Vincent is a highly respected journalist who has worked both here and the in US for publications such as The Australian, The Sunday Telegraph, Marie Claire magazine, Grazia magazine, and America’s biggest selling publication People magazine. She is also the author of the acclaimed memoir Grief Girl: My True Story published in Australia by…
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Jo has worked as a children’s librarian for many years and feels privileged to have shared hundreds of books with children. Jo was awarded the biannual Australian Library and Information Association Marjorie Cotton Award in 2004 for recognition of outstanding contribution to children and youth library services. She lives on the outskirts of Sydney with…
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Jaclyn Moriarty grew up in Sydney’s north-west with four sisters, one brother, two dogs and twelve chickens. She studied English and Law at the University of Sydney and later wrote a PhD thesis at Cambridge on Children, Law and the Media. She has worked as a media and entertainment lawyer but now writes full time,…
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Tina has worked in children’s theatre and television for 30 years as a puppet maker, designer and writer. Tina began by working in theatre in education for the QEII Arts Council in New Zealand. When she moved to Australia she trained in puppetry with the Marionette Theatre of Australia and continued to work with them…
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Gabrielle Lord is a crime writer who takes her research very seriously. She has spent days with the Dog Squad, at the city morgue, a Private Investigation and security business, hanging around with scientists and detectives and has even studied anatomy at Sydney University. Her first novel Fortress was a runaway success, translated into six…
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Margo Lanagan’s life has followed a varied career path, working as a secretary, a kitchen hand at a roadhouse on the Nullarbor Plain, a full time student of history, an editor and finally, after living in Paris on a writing grant from the Literature Board of the Australia Council, as a full time author. Margo…
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Jacqueline Harvey has combined a successful career in education with her love of a good story. She credits winning the aptly named CBCA Frustrated Writers’ Competition in 2001 with helping turn her dreams of being published into reality. Code Name Mr Right was published by Lothian in 2003 and she quickly added more titles to…
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Libby Gleeson is one of Australia’s best known and most highly regarded writers for young people, with a significant list of picture books, short stories and novels to her credit. Libby grew up in rural NSW and graduated in history from the University of Sydney. She has travelled widely overseas but now lives in Sydney…
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