Under his own name John has produced about thirty books, many of them well-known award winners. And he continues to do so. Here are a few John Heffernan titles. Visit www.spudplus.com to find out more about these books. Recently, however, John has been working under another name. As Charlie Carter he writes the Battle Boy…
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Tristan Bancks tells stories for the page and screen. As a teenager he trained at Sydney’s Q Theatre before landing a series-regular role in TV’s Home and Away. After leaving Summer Bay Tristan spent four years in London writing, researching and presenting television for ITV, BBC, Channel Four and cable. He presented shows on some…
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Duncan Ball is an author and scriptwriter who is best known as the creator of one of Australia’s most popular children’s literary heroes, Selby the Talking Dog. Selby has now had sixteen books written about him, beginning with Selby’s Secret. The latest title is The Joke’s on Selby, and there is now also Selby’s Joke…
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Peter Skrzynecki is of Polish-Ukrainian origin. He was born in 1945 and emigrated to Australia in 1949. He is now Sydney based. Peter is a graduate of the University of New England and the University of Sydney. He has published several volumes of poetry, including Easter Sunday, The Aviary and Night Swim, as well as…
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Wayne Harris was born in Sydney in 1956. He was educated at Picnic Point, then studied English and Drama Theory at the University of New South Wales. He spent his twenties exploring the world of music as a singer, performer and songwriter, recording a solo album and giving live performances. He also worked with the…
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Deb Westbury has been a familiar and respected voice in Australian poetry since her work was first published in 1975. Her poetry has since been widely anthologised, including the Oxford Anthology of Women’s Verse (edited by Susan Lever, 1995). Deb was born and has spent most of her life on the NSW coast south of…
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Maggie Hamilton is the author of two major books on the problems facing girls and boys growing up in a world that is changing very quickly and forcing them to confront major developmental issues at a very young age. She has spent five years interviewing children across a wide age spectrum and analysing the results…
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Debra Oswald is a Sydney-based playwright and author. She began writing as a teenager and sold her first radioplay at 17. Since then she’s made her living as a writer for film, television, stage and radio as well as publishing a number of novels for children. Debra has written extensively for the stage and is…
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One of Australia’s most popular illustrators for children, Kim Gamble is widely known and loved for his engaging talks where his ‘hands-on’ approach, creating magnificent pictures with pastels as he goes, has inspired numerous students and teachers. As one librarian said, ‘…just wanted to let you know that Kim Gamble, over the last three days,…
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After studying Graphic Design at Sydney College of the Arts, Louise Pfanner became a freelance illustrator, designing children’s fabrics and clothes and illustrating for various magazines. Her first two books, Louise Builds a House (1987) and Louise Builds a Boat (1988) enjoyed considerable success and she has since illustrated a number of books for the…
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Sarah was born in London, and spent her childhood in America, Sweden, and finally NZ where she spent a lot of time digging for worms, chasing sheep, falling in rivers – and of course, doodling endlessly. She now spends her time in Sydney digging for ideas, chasing her 3 children, spilling pots of paint –…
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One of Australia’s best known illustrators, Ron Brooks has produced a large number of beautiful picture books but is probably best known for the seminal John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat (with Jenny Wagner). Other well-known publications are The Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek, Motor Bill and the Lovely Caroline (both with Jenny Wagner), Henry’s…
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Allan Baillie was born in Scotland but grew up in Australia, moving here with his family when he was seven years old. He began writing when he was at school, and after leaving school he worked as a cadet journalist at the Melbourne Sun and studied journalism at Melbourne University. His career as a journalist…
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Richard Tulloch is one of Australia’s most prolific and popular writers of books, plays, film and television for young audiences. His television series, which include 150 episodes of the phenomenal Bananas in Pyjamas, as well as episodes of Playschool, The Magic Mountain and stories for New McDonald’s Farm, have reached an audience of hundreds of…
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Andrew Daddo is the best selling author of many humorous stories for children. His first book, Sprung!, a collection of short stories about the life of Fergus Kipper, was a huge success with its zany sense of humour and page-turning plots. Fergus’s life has been further chronicled in Sprung Again!, You’re Dropped!, Dacked!, and Flushed!.…
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