South Australian Children's Authors and Illustrators

Alphabetical Listing by SURNAME

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

	Dyan BLACKLOCK Dyan Blacklock is a South Australian writer who writes across the range from picture book to young adult. She is a bold writer with an instinct for the things that fascinate children. Her stories are full of surprises and leave readers with plenty to think about. » Visit Dyan Blacklock's web page
	Ian BONE I was born in Geelong in 1956. My first love was TV so it’s no surprise that I had a career as a producer of children’s programs for the ABC. It was during this time that I became interested in writing books. I now have books published for pre-schoolers up to teenagers. I am a father of three children, and when I’m not writing books I write TV scripts and hang out the washing. » Visit Ian Bone's web Site
	Janeen BRIAN I was born by the sea at Brighton in South Australia. My love of the seaside is evident in my stories and poems. I began writing when I was about thirty – enjoyment of reading was the reason I gave it a go. I now have almost 60 books published. Many of them have won awards, been published overseas and translated into different languages. My poems appear in 12 anthologies and I have over 100 poems, plays, stories and articles published in children’s national and overseas magazines. I love to read, walk, ride, swim, do Yoga, go to the theatre, make mosaics and other art/craft projects, travel and grow trees for Trees for Life. » Visit Janeen Brian's web site
	Sharon Callen I am a country girl, growing up along the River Murray. I have written a lot of things for teachers, but I especially love to write for children. I have two children of my own, and I write and privately publish something for them each year, for their birthdays, sometimes it's a poem. Sometimes a story, but I know them so well and I know just what they like!!
	Phil Cummings Phil Cummings is the author of many books for children including the award-winning novel Angel and the recently critically acclaimed novel Breakaway a Children's Book Council of Australia Notable Book for 2001. Phil was chosen to write the first book for The Advertiser Little Big Book Club. Phil's books have been published in the US, Canada, UK and New Zealand. »Visit Phil Cummings' website
	Brenda Day Brenda Day is a generation younger than Yvonne [Yvonne Edwards, her collaborator on Going for Kalta) and was born in Yalata. The two women often go on bush trips on the Yalata homelands with their own children and other children as shown in Going for Kalta. Brenda’s children, Kingkey and Alinta, show the bush skills learnt from their grandmother and mother in Going for Kalta.
	Mike Dumbleton Mike Dumbleton was born in England where he qualified as a teacher before emigrating to Australia with his wife Linda in 1972. He now lives in Adelaide, and works as an English/Literacy Faculty Co-ordinator at an Adelaide High School. Five of Mike's books have been selected as "Notable Books" by the Australian Children's Book Council and Passing On was short listed for the 2002 Book of the Year Awards. He was also awarded an Arts SA Literature Grant, by the South Australian Government, to support the completion of his first Young Adult Fiction title, Watch Out For Jamie Joel. »Visit Mike Dumbleton's website
	Yvonne Edwards Yvonne Edwards is a Pitjantjatjara woman who was born at Ooldea Soak on the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia. Yvonne is a superb craftswoman, having learnt this traditional skill from watching her mother. She is also an expert bushwoman and enjoys teaching children bush skills. Yvonne is an accomplished storyteller and looked forward to the publication of Going for kalta as “Yalata people will be happy to see a book about Yalata”.
	Max Fatchen Max Fatchen spent his boyhood on an Adelaide Plains farm at Angle Vale . Later he entered journalism as a copy boy and after five years in the Services during World War II became a journalist with the Adelaide News and later The Advertiser. He covered many major stories in Australia and overseas. He began writing for children in 1966 and has been writing for them ever since. He has written 20 books, his novels appear in seven countries and his poetry throughout the English-speaking world. He writes for children in the primary school group. His favourite hobbies are fishing and talking to children and his favourite book when young was The Wind in the Willows. He was born on August 3, 1920.
Yann Le Berre ©2007	Mem Fox Mem Fox was born in Melbourne, grew up in Africa, and was educated in England. She and her husband have lived in Adelaide since 1970. Mem Fox has been presented with several major awards including the 1990 Dromkeen Medal for distinguished services to children's literature; a 1991 Advance Australia Award for her outstanding contribution to Australian Literature; an Australian Medal in the 1993 Australia Day Honours awards, for services to the cultural life of Australia, the Alice Award from the Fellowship of Women Writers, and an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Wollongong, Australia Australia, in 1996. »Visit Mem Fox's Website
	Amanda Graham Painting, drawing and making 'crafty stuff’ were my favourite things when I was young so I'm not surprised that I am now an illustrator. But I am surprised that I am an author. I began writing for children when I was training as a primary school teacher in 1979. After having a few books published I have also worked as a teacher, drawing lecturer, after school care coordinator, waiter, bar person and freelance illustrator. »Visit Amanda Graham's web page
	Donna Gynell Donna Gynell was born and raised in Port Lincoln, South Australia. She then furthered her studies concentrating on illustration at the University of South Australia, Underdale. Children’s picture book illustration was of great interest to the illustration staff at the university and this fostered Donna’s interest in the area. She began her first published title while still a student.
	Christine Harris Christine Harris lives in the Adelaide Hills with her family. Christine writes because she loves books, reading and writing them. It's fun and she pretends to be each of the characters in her stories-like acting on paper. She hopes that her readers will be moved to laugh, think and sometimes cry. I don't want to go to school was chosen for the 2003 Simultaneous Storytime around Australia. »Visit Christine Harris' Website
	David Harris David is a writer and adventurer who identified the lost City of Rome in China. He taught from reception to year 12, lectured about writing in Universities, was an Educational Consultant in literacy, and gives talks and workshops in schools around Australia. His books include fiction for adults and young readers, histories, biographies, travel, textbooks, and he has edited anthologies. David loves being a writer because it leads him on journeys of discovery, where he finds out about the world and people. David was born in Port Pirie growing up in Pt Augusta and Adelaide, he now resides in the Adelaide Hills. »Visit David Harris' website
	kerri hashmi Although I was born near Melbourne, I grew up in the Adelaide Hills where I attended Stirling East Primary and Heathfield High Schools. I taught at Birdwood High and later worked as an Australian diplomat in Malaysia. My interests include travel, learning about other cultures, languages and food, exploring and reading. I started writing after I discovered picture books when my children were young.
	Rosanne Hawke Rosanne Hawke was born in Penola, South Australia and has worked in Pakistan, The United Arab Emirates and Australia. She is a trained Junior Primary and ESL teacher, has a second Post Grad. Dip. in Information Studies and Honours in Creative Writing. Rosanne received two Arts SA grants to write young adult novels and a Varuna Fellowship in 2000. »Visit Rosanne Hawke's website
	Elizabeth Hutchins I have lived in Adelaide for most of my life, but spent six years teaching in country towns, including four in the outback. I love travelling, and think I have an interesting life. All of my books, which range from picture books to young adult novels, are set in places that I know and love.
	sascha hutchinson I grew up on a small farm south of Adelaide and from an early age I always loved drawing and writing. I can remember thinking I would really like to illustrate or write books one day, as my career. After finishing school, I studied at the University of South Australia and graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Design (Illustration). During my last year of study, I began to approach publishers with my work, and from this, came my first picture book, Snap! written by Marcia Vaughan. »Visit Sasha Hutchinson's website
	julie ireland Julie Ireland grew up in England, studied Italian and French at university, then trained and worked as a social worker. As a child, Julie loved fairy tales, especially the sad ones, and devoured her older brother's adventure stories. Writing for young people grew out of her delight in sharing stories with her own children. In her spare time, Julie still reads a lot and enjoys the plants and wildlife - including the occasional koala - in her large unruly garden.
	tom Jellett Tom Jellett was born in Manly, New South Wales, and lived in Brisbane before his family moved to Adelaide. After graduating from the University of South Australia in 1995 with Bachelor of Design (Illustration) he worked as a freelance illustrator. His commissions have included two titles in the Omnibus Solo series, Hot Stuff by Margaret Clark and Fuzz the Famous Fly by Emily Rodda, and Australia at the Beach, a picture book by Max Fatchen.
	David kennett Pictures have always been important to me and I can’t make sense of, or retain information that doesn’t have or make a picture for me. Maths, science, economics, weights, measures and statistics are all quite incomprehensible. Presenting information visually is educating me. »Visit David Kennett's web page
	jeri kroll Jeri is an Associate Professor of English at Flinders University and Program Coordinator of Creative Writing. She wrote her first poems when she was eight and began by publishing books of stories and poems for adults. When she had her own child, she read to him all the time. Then she decided to try writing a picture book herself. As well as picture books, Jeri has written fiction for different ages. Her newest young adult novel, Riding the Blues, came out in 2001,as well as a chapter book for beginning readers, Fit for a Prince. »Visit Jeri Kroll's website
	Christobel mattingley I was born at Brighton, South Australia, on 26th October 1931. My first book was published in 1970 and my 45th in 2005. Some have been shortlisted for awards, some have won awards. Cockawun and Cockatoo was named a Notable Book in the Children's Book Council Awards for 2000 and received a Certificate of Merit in the Whitley Awards for the Best Children's Novel of 2000 of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. In Western Australia an annual award for young writers has been named after me, and I have received an Advance Australia Award, an Honorary Doctorate of the University of South Australia, and been made a Member of the Order of Australia(AM) for my contribution to literature. In November 2004 I was chosen as one of four Faces of the inaugural Books Be In It Festival. »Visit Christobel Mattingley's web page
	Peter Mcfarlane I love the beach and the sea because it's where I spent my youth. I grew up in a converted barn in Brighton, South Australia, and spent most of my time playing in the dunes and swimming at the end of my street, as well as looking after my grandfather's horses. I wrote about it in my first novel, The Tin House. Apart from my family and friends, my other loves are teaching and writing (and my Aussie Rules footy teams), and I've tried to combine all of these in my books for teachers and the novels and short stories I've written for young people of all ages. »Visit Peter McFarlane's web page
	kunyi june - anne mcinerney Kunyi was born in 1951 at Todmorden Station via Oodnadatta. She has since completed a BA in Aboriginal Studies from the University of South Australia, as well as a stint as Artist in Residence at Flinders University. Her paintings are represented in the Queensland Art Gallery collection, the Brisbane City Council collection and in numerous private collections throughout Australia, Europe and the United States.
	amanda Mckay Amanda McKay was born in Gippsland Victoria. Amanda began writing for children after the birth of her daughter in 1987. Her first novel, (for teenagers) A Future for Myself, (Omnibus Books) was published in 1993. After the publication of her second novel, (for younger readers) Sally Marshall's Not an Alien! (University of Queensland Press) in 1994, Amanda began adapting the novel for the screen.
	carol mclean carr Born in London in April 1948, I came to Australia in 1959 with my parents and twin brother to settle in Melbourne. My main areas of interest in art are drawing as a discipline itself, printmaking, watercolour, air brushing and coloured pencil work. Lately, of course, the computer raises its boxy head. I have been able to combine an interest in education, natural history, literature, history, publishing and design in most of what I have done over the years. From a period involved in the print trade to formal study in the Bachelor of Design / Illustration, post-graduate studies in Education, Educational Management and Multimedia. Also a Senior artist in a Hong Kong company designing for CD-ROM games, stints as a freelancer, an Industry trainer and the pleasures of running a small Design studio. »Visit Carol McLean Carr's webpage
	Christine nicholls Christine Nicholls was born in 1952 at Curramulka, a small town of just a few hundred people on the Yorke Peninsula of South Australia. As a very young child, her favourite book was Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit, which she loved because Peter Rabbit was so clever and naughty at the same time, and she also liked fairy tales, especially Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Match Girl, and his Twelve Dancing Princesses and The Little Mermaid, as well as some Biblical stories, particularly a very sad one about the little girl of Capernaum which she would read to her younger siblings over and over again.
	eleanor nilsson Born in Stirling, Scotland. Lived also in Dundee and Arbroath before coming to Australia in 1952. Have lived in Adelaide since. She worked as a teacher, high school and tertiary, until 1992. She has worked as a writer only since then.
	sue o'loughlin I was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1939 and grew up in a big guest house on the sea front. I went back to the Art School when I was 40 years old to retrain in more modern methods and earned a degree majoring in illustration and printmaking. I have since worked for years as a computer animator in children’s television, which I enjoyed, and as a freelance illustrator.
	gillian rubenstein I was born in England and grew up in the English villages, Potten End and Drayton. When I was fourteen my parents went to live in West Africa, and my teenage years were divided between Nigeria and boarding school. I came to live in Australia when I was twenty eight, and started writing books ten or twelve years later, partly for my three children. Since 1986 I’ve written over thirty books for all ages, as well as nine plays. I like writing in lots of different styles, so working in children’s literature is an ideal field for me.
	John Siow Born in Seremban a town 40 miles south of Kuala Lumpar Malaysia in 1948. At sixteen came over to Australia to further my education. Graduated from the South Australian School of Art in Graphic Design in 1974. After graduation I started work as Book Designer and illustrator at Rigby Publishing in their Educational Book Department. In 1980 I was appointed as a Lecturer in the School of Design - Illustration Department at the South Australian College of Advanced Education, Underdale. Retired in 1998
	Danny snell I was born and grew up in Adelaide. As far back as I remember I've always enjoyed drawing, it's the one thing at school that I was good at. I went on to study graphic design at Underdale, specialising in illustration, I currently work as a freelance illustrator, producing work for magazines, design studios, advertising agencies, as well as children's books. And until recently lectured (illustration) part time at the University of South Australia. I still feel quite new to the world of Children's book illustration.
	ruth starke I started writing fiction in 1992 when I returned to university to complete an arts degree. Since then, I’ve written 11 novels for young people, and two non-fiction books. I guess my target reader is aged about 12 or so, and I tend to write the kinds of books I like to read – which means crime/mysteries, with plenty of humour and strong characters. Ruth has published 18 novels for young people and is currently Writer-In-Residence at Flinders University. »Visit Ruth Starke's website
	marquerite hann syme I grew up in the Adelaide foothills where vineyards and olive groves were my weekend playgrounds. A bicycle at twelve meant freedom to ride, mainly through gullies of big trees and thin winter waterfalls or into public parks with dry creeks to bounce along. Mum read to my brothers and me every night for years while in the background my father practised his viola-playing. At 13 I began buying my own records. Music helps me write. Awarded May Gibbs Residency, Canberra 2003
	colin thiele We pay tribute to Colin Thiele, AC, a highly esteemed South Australian educator and author who died on 3 September 2006. He received many awards for his contribution to literature and the arts including Companion of the Order of Australia and the Dromkeen Medal. A prolific writer his books have won Australian and international awards.
	alan tucker I was born in Adelaide in 1952 and educated at state schools followed by Flinders University. I did not study art but taught myself to paint in my early twenties. For another twenty years I painted in my shed on weekends. In 1993, I exhibited work for the first time and was subsequently offered the opportunity to write and illustrate a picture book. Now I work four days a week and write and illustrate books the other three days. I am interested in the relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, and examine these relationships in my writing and artwork. In 2000 I began writing my first historical and enjoyed the process so much that I am writing another.
	kerry wakefield I grew up in the safe but not exciting small Victorian country town of Newborough, and books gave me a world to dream about. My Dad was a newsagent, and I read everything in the shop, from nudist magazines (when he wasn't looking!) to every comic on the shelves. I later became a newspaper journalist but oddly, I never felt able to write fiction, until I had my own children. In some way they completed my education, so that I felt confident to create my own "worlds".
	edna tantjinggu williams Edna, a Yankunytjatjara woman strong in her identity and cultural practice was on the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta, senior Aboriginal women who formed their own corporation to keep alive the traditional culture. She saw this book as a legacy to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And, also her way of setting the record straight about what really happened to Aboriginal people with the 'people that come lately': that is, the rest of us.
	eileen wani wingfield
	steven woolman Steven Woolman died on 30th April 2004, aged 34 years. We pay tribute to this fine, innovative illustrator. Born Adelaide, South Australia in 1969. Since completing a degree in Graphic Design (specializing in Illustration) in 1990, Steven has worked in the publishing industry, designing and illustrating numerous educational and children’s picture books.