Linda Sue Park is a Korean-American author who published her first novel, Seesaw Girl, in 1999. She has written six children's novels and five picture books. Park's work achieved prominence when she received the prestigious 2002 Newbery Medal for her novel A Single Shard. She has written the ninth book in The 39 Clues, Storm Warning, published on May 25, 2010.
Jennifer June Rowe,, is an Australian author. Her crime fiction for adults is published under her own name, while her children's fiction is published under the pseudonyms Emily Rodda and Mary-Anne Dickinson. She is well known for the children's fantasy series Deltora Quest, Rowan of Rin, Fairy Realm, Teen Power Inc., the Rondo trilogy and The Three Doors trilogy, and her latest His Name Was Walter.
Graeme Rowland Base is a British-Australian author and artist of picture books. He is perhaps best known for his second book, Animalia published in 1986, and third book The Eleventh Hour which was released in 1989.
Patricia Wrightson OBE was an Australian writer of several highly regarded and influential children's books. Employing a 'magic realism' style, her books, including the award-winning The Nargun and the Stars (1973), were among the first Australian books for children to draw on Australian Aboriginal mythology. Her 27 books have been published in 16 languages.
Jacqueline Anne Ffrench, known professionally as Jackie French, is an Australian author who has written across a number of genres for both adults and children. Her most notable works include Rain Stones, Diary of a Wombat, and The Girl from Snowy River. Several of her books have been recommended for teaching the Australian Curriculum. French lives in Braidwood, New South Wales, with her second husband Bryan Sullivan.
Natalie Zane Babbitt was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. Her 1975 novel Tuck Everlasting was adapted into two feature films and a Broadway musical. She received the Newbery Honor and Christopher Award, and was the U.S. nominee for the biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1982.
Libby Gleeson AM is an Australian children's author. Born in Young, New South Wales, she is one of six children, the sister of former ABC TV Washington Correspondent Michael Gleeson, and the mother of Home and Away actress Jessica Tovey and Sydney Morning Herald journalist Josephine Tovey. Her sister, Margie Gleeson, works as the head teacher of Creative and Performing Arts at Albury High School.
Catherine Bateson is an Australian writer.
Nadia Wheatley is an Australian writer whose work includes picture books, novels, biography and history. Perhaps best known for her classic picture book My Place, the author's biography of Charmian Clift was described by critic Peter Craven as 'one of the greatest Australian biographies'. Another great book by her is A Banner Bold, which is an historical novel.
Pamela Freeman is an Australian author of books for both adults and children. Most of her work is fantasy but she has also written mystery stories, science fiction, family dramas and non-fiction. Her first adult series, the Castings Trilogy is published globally by Orbit Books. She is best known in Australia for the junior novel Victor’s Quest and an associated series, the Floramonde books, and for The Black Dress: Mary MacKillop’s Early Years, which won the NSW Premier's History Prize in 2006.
The Children's Book of the Year Award: Early Childhood has been presented annually since 2001 by the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA).
Deborah Mary Niland is a New Zealand–born Australian artist, known as a writer and illustrator of children's books. Some of her most popular books include Annie's Chair, When The Wind Changed, Mulga Bill's Bicycle, and Chatterbox. In 2006 she won The Children's Book of the Year – Early Childhood, with her book Annie's Chair.
Gregory John Rogers was an illustrator and writer of children's books, especially picture books. He was the first Australian to win the annual Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. The book was Way Home by the Australian writer Libby Hathorn, published in the U.K. by Andersen Press in 1994. In the unnamed city, a boy makes his way home at night and adopts a stray cat en route. The "picture book for older readers" was controversial on grounds both that it was "hardboiled" and that it "romanticised the plight of the homeless".
Frances Watts is the pen-name of Ali Lavau, a Swiss born Australian author, who moved to Sydney, Australia when she was three years old. She has studied English literature at Macquarie University, going on to teach Australian Literature and children's literature. After graduating with a PhD, she obtained her first job in publishing.
J. C. Burke is an Australian author, currently living in Sydney.
Ann Catherine Stewart James is an Australian illustrator of more than 60 children's books, some of which she also wrote. She was born in Melbourne, Victoria. James has been illustrating books since the 1980s and has become a significant contributor towards the development and appreciation of children's literature in Australia. In 2000 she was awarded the Pixie O'Harris Award as a formal acknowledgment of this contribution and was also the 2002 recipient of the national Dromkeen Medal for services towards children's literature. Ann James currently still lives and works in Melbourne, where she runs the Books Illustrated gallery and studio that she co-founded with Ann Haddon in 1988.
Jen Storer is an Australian children's author. Many of her works have been short-listed for major Australian awards such as, the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year and the Aurealis Awards. Her works feature strong female characters, humour, adventure and, occasionally, elements of horror.
Rosanne Hawke is an Australian author from Penola, South Australia who has written over 25 books for young adults and children. She teaches tertiary level creative writing at Tabor Adelaide. She has a PhD in creative writing from the University of Adelaide.
Margaret Dawn Hamilton was an Australian children’s literature publisher who served as the National President of the Children’s Book Council of Australia from 1991 to 1992 and as a National Board Member until April 2017 when she formally retired. She also published six books.
Zana Fraillon is an Australian writer of fiction for children and young adults based in Melbourne, Australia. Fraillon is known for allowing young readers to examine human rights abuses within fiction and in 2017 she won an Amnesty CILIP Honour for her book The Bone Sparrow which highlights the plight of the Rohingya people. The Bone Sparrow has been translated to stage and is set to premier in the York Theatre Royal, York, UK, from 25 February 2022.
