Our Authors Meet our fantastic Authors and Illustrators.
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Ashleigh Barton
As a child, Ashleigh Barton would borrow ten library books at a time and decided, at precisely age six, that she wanted to be a writer. Several years, a law degree and a couple of full-time jobs later, Ashleigh has finally made her six-year-old self proud. Now the author of the picture books What Do You Call Your Grandpa?, What Do You Call Your Grandma? and What Do You Do To Celebrate?, Ashleigh loves writing stories for children of all ages. She also works as a freelance copywriter, and prior to this worked in marketing and publicity for children's books at a major publisher, running campaigns for internationally renowned authors and illustrators. Ashleigh lives in Sydney with her husband, dog, and three little bookworms.
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Karen Ginnane
Karen self-published ahead of the curve at the age of ten in her home town of Perth in Western Australia. Since A Horse Named Ginger was released, Karen has been variously employed as a freelance copywriter, a marketing director for Paramount Pictures in London, a grain weighbridge operator in rural WA, a swimming teacher, a life model, a deckhand in Chile and an English teacher in Japan. She is now a Melbourne-based author for middle grade and young adult readers. Penguin Random House Australia published her debut novel, When Days Tilt, in July 2021 and will publish the sequel, When Souls Tear, in July 2022. These historical fantasy adventures, set in Victorian London and a parallel city, are part of the Time Catchers series. Karen attended an Invited Residency to Varuna Writers House in 2021 for When Souls Tear. She's interested in looking at old stories in new ways and runs a workshop on using history or real life as a jumping off point for fantasy. She's found that the strange and tilted never seem to be far from the surface, and that 'place' keeps muscling in on the traditional territory of 'character.' Karen also runs a tour operator business with her husband, who she met in London, and lives in Melbourne with him and their two children and two cats.
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Sue Whiting
Sue Whiting is an acclaimed children’s and YA author and editor who has worked in publishing for two decades. As a storyteller and schools’ performer, Sue has informed, inspired and entertained thousands of kids across the country. Sue is a former primary school teacher with a special interest in literacy education, and the author of numerous books, including the bestselling Missing, the award-winning A Swim in the Sea and a number of CBCA Notable Books. Sue’s latest books are The Book of Chance a mystery/suspense novel for readers 10+, which was shortlisted for the 2021 CBCA Book of the Year Awards and Highly Commended in the 2021 Davitt Awards, and the picture book, Good Question, illustrated by Annie White, which was named a CBCA Notable Book.
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Jackie Hosking
Jackie Hosking began writing for children after completing a creative writing course and her first children's poem, "If I Were a Giant" was published by The School Magazine in 2005, and her her first picture book, The Croc and the Platypus, was published in 2014. It was shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards in 2015. Jackie wrote the book as a writing exercise to see if she could emulate Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat, with an Aussie twist. In 2019 she was awarded a May Gibbs Creative Time Fellowship where she worked on her writing in Canberra for a month. Jackie loves to write in rhyme and when she's not writing in rhyme she loves to help others with their rhyme via her Rhyming Manuscript Editing Service or through her writing course, Metre Matters.
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Josie Layton
Josie Layton is a Melbourne girl who loves writing funny stories that sneak a little moral in. Trained as a beauty therapist but unable to paint nails to save herself, Josie would instead call herself an "inner beauty" therapist, whose sole purpose is to write stories that change the conversation about true beauty and body image. Now training as a counsellor and coach, she hopes to help people re-write their own personal stories too. Josie Layton is a vibrant young author, editor and counselling student who loves writing funny stories that sneak a little moral in. Her picture book Reggie Red follows a young girl who fears that she looks too different to the girls she sees online and at school, who later discovers thetrue meaning of beauty and how to embrace her whole, wonderful self. As well as storytelling, Josie offers workshops for all student age groups which include activities based around building self-esteem, confidence, positive body image and empathetic connections with classmates. Her workshops can also be tailored to fit the school’s curriculum and teaching objectives.
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Louise Park
Louise Park draws from a strong background in Education, literacy and publishing to produce her blockbuster bestsellers that include Zac Power Test Drives and Spy Recruit, and Boy vs Beast. She has taught primary school children of all ages, trained teachers in literacy education, and has been an Education publisher for an international publishing house. She writes books for children aged 2-12 including the Harriet Clare series, the D-Bot Squad series, the Star Girl series, the Bella Dancerella seriesand her latest time-slip series for older readers, Grace’s Secrets and Grace’s Escape. She also writes books for adults including the best-selling title for parents, 7 Steps to Get Your Child Reading. Louise writes under her own name as well as the hugely successful pseudonyms: H. I. Larry, Mac Park and Poppy Rose.
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Maddy Tyers
Maddy Tyers is a rising star of Australian stage and screen. As an actor, presenter, children’s entertainer, voice-over artist and writer, Maddy’s list of accomplishments continue to grow. Maddy has appeared in a host of Australian TV series’, short films and features including Border Protection Squad, Neighbours, Back In Very Small Business and City Homicide but is best known for her supporting lead role as Amanda Tucci in the hit kid’s TV series, The Elephant Princess. Broadcast in over 35 countries across the world (nationally on Network 10, The Disney Channel and Nickelodeon), The Elephant Princess is a hugely popular children fantasy program that won the 2009 AFI award for the Best Children's Television Drama. In 2019, Maddy and her husband Jimmy also hit the small screen as competitors in the AACTA award winning Channel Nine reality TV series, Lego Masters. Away from performing, Maddy is also a published author. Her first children’s picture story book, 'When Anna Came To Stay' explores the nature and emergence of eating disorders for a younger audience. This book gives young readers a glimpse into the family dynamics involved when a child experiences an eating disorder. It also highlights the need for family members to be sensitive to the signs of an eating disorder and prepared to provide support during the healing process.
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Amy Adeney
After working in public relations for five years, and for ten years as a primary teacher, Amy turned her attention to actively pursuing her goal of writing for children. In 2017 she founded Busy Bookworms, a weekly bookclub class for preschoolers, which used picture books to inspire exciting educational activities. She reviews children’s books for My Child Magazine, and hosts Storytime at local independent bookshop The Leaf. There are six books in Amy’s junior fiction series Tilda Teaches, and her debut picture book, Turning Cartwheels, released in February 2021. When she’s not writing, teaching or reading, Amy can be found attempting (semi-successfully) to train her bichoodle puppy Fred, raising her two rambunctious, creative, exasperating yet amazing children, and catching up on the latest goings-on in Summer Bay.
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Anna Ciddor
Anna’s passion for history shows in her books and in her lively, inspiring presentations, passing on tips about drafts, planning, research, writing and illustrating. Her latest book, The Boy Who Stepped Through Time, is an adventure about a modern Australian boy transported to the time of the Roman Empire and taken for a slave. It is a perfect match for the 2021 Book Week theme Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds. Anna’s last book, 52 Mondays, has just been long-listed for the inaugural Book Links Award for Children’s Historical Fiction, and she has won several Notable Book awards as well as a grant from the Literature Board of the Australia Council. Her books are translated and published around the world.
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Zeno Sworder
Zeno is a writer and artist who lives in Melbourne, a husband and father of two very creative daughters. He has worked as a window washer, journalist, English language teacher, consular officer, tribunal advocate for refugees and immigrants and a jewellery designer. But is most at home sitting at his desk drawing pictures and making up stories. He is a lover of all stationary but have a particular soft spot for pencils. His debut book 'This Small Blue Dot' has been shortlisted for the CBCA new illustrator award in 2021.
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Susanne Gervay
Awarded the Lifetime Social Justice Literature Award by the International Literacy Association, Order of Australia, nominee for Australia for Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, Susanne Gervay is recognized for her writing on social justice. Her award winning stories are published in literary journals and anthologies including the cross Sub-Continent- Australian anthology 'Fear Factor, Terror Incognito' on terrorism alongside the works of Sir Salman Rushdie and Thomas Keneally. She represented Australia in ‘Peace Story’ an IBBY, UNICEF anthology where 22 authors, 22 illustrators from 22 countries wrote for peace. She writes from picture books to young adult novels. Butterflies is recognised as Outstanding Youth Literature on Disability. Her award winning I Am Jack children’s books which have become rite-of-passage on school bullying adapted into an acclaimed play by Monkey Baa Theatre has toured theaters across Australia and USA. Her books are endorsed by The Cancer Council, Room to Read, bringing literacy to the children of the developing world, Children’s Hospital Westmead Sydney, Books in Homes reaching indigenous and disadvantaged schools, Life Education, many anti bullying and literacy organizations. An acclaimed national and international speaker, Susanne Gervay is head of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators SCBWI Australia East and New Zealand, Ambassador for many literacy, reading and equity campaigns.
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Renee Treml
Renee Treml is the author and illustrator of several best-selling picture books for very young readers, including Once I Heard a Little Wombat, Ten Little Owls, and Roo Knows Blue. She is also the creator of the highly engaging and funny junior fiction graphic novel Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery and its sequel, Sherlock Bones and the Sea-Creature Feature. Renee has a degree in environmental science and has a passionate love of natural history. All of her school visits, both in person or virtual, include fun and interactive workshops where children create illustrations or write their own stories.
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Phil Kettle
Phil is an award winning author of 200 plus books including the TOOCOOL, Boyz Rule, Girlz Rock, Billy Kool, Marcy, Get Real, Our, I Can Be, and the Spike series. Phil is a popular and sort after school speaker, his presentations and workshops are sure to motivate and encourage even the most reluctant writers and readers.
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J.A. Henderson
J A Henderson (Jan-Andrew) Henderson is the author of 30 books. His novels have been short listed for thirteen literary awards and he is the winner of The Royal Mail and Doncaster Prizes. His books have been published in the UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Germany and the Czech Republic.
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Danielle Binks
Danielle Binks is a Melbourne-based writer, reviewer, agent, book blogger and Youth Literature Advocate. In 2017, she edited and contributed to Begin, End, Begin, an anthology of new Australian young adult writing inspired by the #LoveOzYA movement, which won the ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children (Ages 13+) and was shortlisted in the 2018 Gold Inky Awards. The Year the Maps Changed is Danielle’s debut middle-grade novel released in 2020.
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Charlotte Barkla
Charlotte worked as a civil engineer and physics teacher before rediscovering her love for children’s literature. She now writes picture books, middle-grade fiction and feature articles. Charlotte loves sharing her passion for science, creativity and stories with children of all ages.
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Nat Amoore
Nat is a writer who is passionate about encouraging kids to read, write and explore their imagination without boundaries. With a background in writing for screen, she wrote and directed international award-winning short film Elemenopee and has a feature film screenplay and a kids' TV series in development. Nat was a recipient of the CBCA Maurice Saxby Creative Development Program for 2018. In February 2018, Nat and her co-hosts launched kidlit podcast One More Page, which was a finalist in the 'Best Newcomer' category for the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.
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Deborah Abela
After completing a teaching degree, Deb went to Africa where she was caught in a desert sandstorm, harassed by monkeys and thrown in jail … twice! She produced and wrote a national kids’ TV show before leaving to write twenty-six books. She is a proud ambassador for the Premier’s Reading Challenge, Room to Read and Books in Homes. Deb’s won awards for her books but mostly hopes to be as brave as her characters.
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Vikki Conley
Vikki Conley is a children’s author, presenter and creative guru. She’s worked as a journalist, photographer and professional communicator for over 20 years, across three continents. Vikki is a CBCA schools program author and an active player in both the arts and literary industries. She loves creating multi-art form experiences for children at schools, libraries and festivals. Her creative literacy and story-art sessions bring the natural world, drama, puppetry and innovative thinking into the classroom.
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Katrina McKelvey
Katrina McKelvey is a children’s author, former primary school teacher, wife, and mother to two tweenagers and a cocker spaniel. She’s written many children's picture books and educational readers. She is highly involved in CBCA, SCBWI, literary conferences and festivals, and loves visiting schools. She’s left-handed, loves tea and rollercoasters, and is addicted to mint chocolate. While in lockdown in Disney World a few years ago, she survived Hurricane Gene (category 5) by eating awful brownies.
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Chris Collin
Chris Collin is an author, presenter, and publisher of Australian children's books. His best selling titles include A Bug Called Doug and Funky Chicken: Chooks in Space and the winner of the 2016 Speech Pathology Australia book award for Five to eight years, Funky Chicken: A Bushy Tale of Crocs and Chooks.
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Lisa Nicol
Lisa’s presentations involve laugh out loud readings, music, stories and audience participation. She has a personal interest in fostering creativity and freeing up the imagination using a mixture of techniques and activities. She is best suited to grades 2-6 but sessions can be tailored to suit any age group.
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Kirsty Murray
Kirsty Murray is a multi-award-winning author of more than 20 books for children and young adults. Her works include eleven novels as well as non-fiction, junior fiction and picture books. Her historical fiction and time-slip novels are widely studied in schools and universities and are published internationally. Strangers on Country, co-authored with Dave Hartley and illustrated by Dub Leffler, won an Honour Prize in the 2021 CBCA Book of the Year Awards and was selected for the internationally renowned ‘White Raven List’. Kirsty is an advocate for readers and writers of all ages and serves as a director on the board of both the Australian Society of Authors and the Copyright Agency.
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Will Kostakis
Will is an award-winning author for young adults and younger readers. His first novel was released when he was only nineteen and his second novel, The First Third won the 2014 Inky Awards, and was shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers and the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.
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Serena Geddes
Serena is an international book illustrator with over forty titles published in Australia and overseas, ranging from board books to picture books and junior novels. Prior to dabbling in the world of picture books and creative office jobs, Serena spent six years working for Walt Disney Animation in Sydney.
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Scot Gardner
Scot wasn’t born reading and writing; in fact he left school in year eleven to undertake an apprenticeship in gardening with the local council. Scot’s first fiction for young readers, One Dead Seagull, was published after he attended a writing camp and writing conferences with John Marsden. More than a decade later, his books have garnered praise and awards for their honest take on adolescent life.
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R.A. Spratt
R.A. Spratt is a best-selling author and television writer. She is the author of the Nanny Piggins series, the Friday Barnes series, and more recently The Peski Kids series. In addition to her many books, she has also written for dozens of different television shows. In recent years she has specialised mainly in children’s animation, but she has also had extensive experience writing jokes, sketch comedy and political satire.
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Nicky Johnston
Nicky is a mum to four boys, an artist, a primary educator and a children’s book author and illustrator. She is based in Melbourne and as well as teaching, she works from home writing and illustrating in her art studio. Her picture books include Go Away, Mr Worrythoughts!, The Fix-It Man, Grandma Forgets and Saying Goodbye to Barkley.
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Mark Wilson
Mark Wilson is a multiple award-winning author/illustrator with 17 books in print worldwide in nine languages, including Flapper and Beth the Story of a Convict Child. Mark has a passion for Australian history and the environment, particularly endangered animals, exploring this through his picture books and workshops.
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Coral Vass
Coral Vass is an award-winning Australian children’s author of several books including Grandma’s Treasured Shoes, Meet Don Bradman and Sorry Day, winner of the 2019 Eve Pownall Award. With a background in media, Coral has always had a passion for telling stories and inspiring children with a love for literature. She dabbled in script writing, radio drama and video production, before working a decade in marketing and publications. .
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Jacqueline Harvey
Jacqueline speaks to thousands of young people at schools and festivals around the world, and says the characters in her books are often made up of the best bits of children she’s met over the years. While she is not a twin, like Kensy and Max she does have excellent powers of observation and has always thought she’d make a great spy.
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Dee White
Dee has published 16 books for children and young adults and many articles, short stories and poems. She has been lucky enough to combine her loves of writing and travel into a career which takes her all over the world writing, researching and presenting workshops. She is a certified writing teacher and mentor, passionate about encouraging new writers.
