Shirley Marr
Shirley Marr is a multi-award winning children's and YA author and a first generation Chinese-Australian living in sunny Perth. Her titles are Fury, Preloved, Little Jiang and All Four Quarters of the Moon and the CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers A Glasshouse of Stars
She describes herself as having a Western Mind and an Eastern Heart and writes in the middle where both collide. She takes milk and sugar with her tea much to the dismay of her oolong drinking friends and eats chicken feet much to the disgust of her Aussie friends. Her passion is to distil her cultural heritage through the lens of resilient young women.
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Karen Foxlee
Karen Foxlee is an Australian author who lives and writes in Queensland. Her young adult novels The Anatomy of Wings (UQP/Knopf/Atlantic) and The Midnight Dress (Knopf/UQP/Hot Key Books) have been published internationally to much acclaim. The Anatomy of Wings won the Commonwealth Writers Prize Best First Book 2008 (South Asia/Pacific), the Dobbie Award 2008, and a Parent’s Choice Gold Award in the U.S. The Midnight Dress was selected as an ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults title in 2014. Foxlee’s first middle grade novel Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy (Knopf / Hot Key Books) was published in January 2014 and to date has received several starred reviews.
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Karen Foxlee was born in Mount Isa, Queensland in 1971. She has worked most of her adult -
Allison Rushby
Allison Rushby adores cities with long, winding histories; wild, overgrown cemeteries; redbrick Victorian museums; foxes; tea; and ivy. She lives in Queensland, Australia.
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http://www.allisonrushby.com. -
Ella Ward
Ella Ward has worked in advertising for twenty years. This means she has a proclivity for profanity and doesn’t respect punctuation.
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In 2018 she was hit with the cancer stick, which apart from being rather frightening also encouraged a foray into oversharing on Instagram, and then – magically – writing.
Her words have been published in places like Frankie, Lunch Lady, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Ella lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband, child, dog, cat and many (many) neuroses.
She’s also writing this about herself in the third person, which she acknowledges is both pretentious and a bit weird. -
Sandra Nickel
Sandra Nickel is an award-winning author of picture books. She holds a Master of Fine Arts and has presented workshops on writing for children and young adults throughout Europe and the United States. She is honored to be the winner of a Christopher Award, the winner of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators Crystal Kite Award, a finalist for the Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction for Younger Readers, a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection honoree, and a Charlotte Huck Award Recommended author.
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Doug Salati
Doug Salati is an illustrator living in New York City. He received his MFA from the School of Visual Arts and was a 2015 Sendak Fellow. His illustrations have received recognition from American Illustration, 3x3, and the Society of Illustrators. In a Small Kingdom, written by Tomie dePaola, is his debut picture book.
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Veronica Agarwal
Veronica Agarwal is a cartoonist and illustrator from NY who loves sunflowers, summertime, and creatures of all kinds!
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She's half-Italian, half-Indian, and her comics reflect the diversity she grew up with.
She has a BFA in Cartooning from the School of Visual Arts, and her works celebrate self care, girls of all kinds, and the little things that make every day special. -
Kelly Canby
Kelly Canby is an internationally published illustrator and author. Kelly was born in London, but has lived in Australia since the age of three, which is probably around the same age she started playing with pencils and crayons, and it was probably only a few years after that that she decided playing with pencils and crayons was something she wanted to do for the rest of her life.
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Erin Gough
Erin Gough is a fiction writer whose short stories have been published in a number of journals and anthologies, including Best Australian Stories, The Age, Overland, Southerly and Going Down Swinging. Her work has been broadcast on radio. She has also worked as a freelance writer and columnist. Awards Erin has received for her short fiction include first place in the Banjo Patterson National Short Story Competition, the Wimmera Literary Competition, the University of British Columbia “Ubyssey” Literary Competition and the FAW Frank Page Award for Short Story Writing. She is a past recipient of the Varuna Eleanor Dark Flagship Fellowship for Fiction, an Australian Society of Authors Mentorship, a Bundanon residency and an Australia Council E
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Drew Daywalt
Ever since his childhood in one of Ohio’s most haunted houses, writer director Drew Daywalt has been writing escapist fantasy and building worlds of his own. With a degree in Creative Writing, and a concentration in Children’s Literature from Emerson College in Boston, Daywalt set off to Hollywood where he spent years writing for Disney and Universal on such beloved shows as Timon & Pumba, Buzz Lightyear, and Woody Woodpecker, and where his animated series The Wacky World of Tex Avery garnered an Emmy nomination.
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His first trip into live action landed him studio screenwriting and feature film directing work with such Hollywood luminaries as Quentin Tarrantino, Lawrence Bender, Tony Scott, Brett Ratner and Jerry Bruckheimer.
With an eye towa -
Katrina Nannestad
Katrina Nannestad is an award-winning Australian author. Her books include The Girl Who Brought Mischief, the Girl, the Dog and the Writer series, the Olive of Groves series, the Red Dirt Diaries series, the Lottie Perkins series and Bungaloo Creek.
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Katrina grew up in country New South Wales in a neighborhood stuffed full of happy children. Her adult years have been spent teaching, raising boys, perfecting her recipe for chocolate-chip bickies and pursuing her love of stories. She now lives near Bendigo with her family and an exuberant black whippet called Olive. -
Kallie George
I’m an author, editor, and speaker living in Vancouver, BC, near the sea. When I’m not writing or editing, I’m teaching creative writing workshops.
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I have my Masters of Children's Literature from the University of British Columbia.
I love picture books, fairy tales, beautiful art and music, and baking cookies. -
Jen Arena
Jen Arena is lucky to have been surrounded by great children’s books her whole life. As a teenager, she worked at a children’s-only indie bookstore in Pennsylvania, and after graduating from college, she made her way to New York City, where she found a job in children's book publishing. Since then, she’s written many books for kids. She recently left New York and now lives in Florida, surrounded by sunshine, palm trees, and really weird birds.
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Peter Brown
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Peter Brown is an American writer and illustrator who is best known for children's picture books.
"Peter has always loved telling stories. Growing up in New Jersey, he told stories by drawing whimsical characters and scenes from his imagination. Then, as a teenager, he fell in love with writing, and told his tales with words. While studying illustration at Art Center College of Design, Peter’s love of both words and pictures led him to take several courses on children’s books, and before long he knew he’d found his calling.
After graduating from Art Center Peter moved to New York City to be closer to the publishing in -
Tristan Bancks
Tristan Bancks tells stories for the page and screen. His books for kids and teens include Two Wolves, The Fall, Detention, the Tom Weekly series, and Nit Boy. Ginger Meggs, Tristan’s 100th anniversary book of short stories, is based on characters created by his great-great uncle, Jimmy Bancks, in 1921. His books have won and been shortlisted for many awards, including a Children’s Book Council of Australia Honour Book, the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, ABIA, YABBA, KOALA, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and Queensland Literary Awards. His latest release is Cop & Robber, a nailbiting crime story for age 10+.
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Tristan is a writer-ambassador for literacy non-profit Room to Read. He is currently working with producers to develop a number of hi -
Craig Silvey
Craig Silvey is an author and screenwriter from Fremantle, Western Australia.
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His critically acclaimed debut novel, Rhubarb, was published in 2004. His bestselling second novel, Jasper Jones, was released in 2009 and is considered a modern Australian classic. Published in over a dozen territories, Jasper Jones has won plaudits in three continents, including an International Dublin Literary Award shortlisting, a Michael J. Printz Award Honor, and a Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlisting. Jasper Jones was the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year for 2010.
His third novel, Honeybee, published in 2020, was an award-winning bestseller. Honeybee was the 2020 Dymocks Book Of The Year, won the Indie Book Award for Best Fiction, and wa -
Dr. Seuss
Also wrote as Theodore Seuss Geisel, see https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
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Theodor Seuss Geisel was born 2 March 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He graduated Dartmouth College in 1925, and proceeded on to Oxford University with the intent of acquiring a doctorate in literature. At Oxford he met Helen Palmer, who he wed in 1927. He returned from Europe in 1927, and began working for a magazine called Judge, the leading humor magazine in America at the time, submitting both cartoons and humorous articles for them. Additionally, he was submitting cartoons to Life, Vanity Fair and Liberty. In some of his works, he'd made reference to an insecticide called Flit. These references gained notice, and led to a contract to draw comic ads fo -
John Marsden
There is more than one author with this name in the database, see f.e. John Marsden.
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John Marsden was an Australian writer and school principal. He wrote more than 40 books in his career and his books have been translated into many languages. He was especially known for his young adult novel Tomorrow, When the War Began, which began a series of seven books.
Marsden began writing for children while working as a teacher, and had his first book, So Much to Tell You, published in 1987. In 2006, he started an alternative school, Candlebark School, and reduced his writing to focus on teaching and running the school. In 2016, he opened the arts-focused secondary school, Alice Miller School. Both schools are in the Macedon Ranges. -
Joe Kelly
Librarian note:
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There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name -
Gillian Flynn
Gillian Flynn is an American author and television critic for Entertainment Weekly. She has so far written three novels, Sharp Objects, for which she won the 2007 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for the best thriller; Dark Places; and her best-selling third novel Gone Girl.
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Her book has received wide praise, including from authors such as Stephen King. The dark plot revolves around a serial killer in a Missouri town, and the reporter who has returned from Chicago to cover the event. Themes include dysfunctional families,violence and self-harm.
In 2007 the novel was shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar for Best First Novel by an American Writer, Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie, CWA New Blood and Ian Fleming Steel Daggers, win -
Georgia Bragg
Georgia Bragg’s father, mother, and brother are all artists, and Georgia is too. She was a printmaker, a painter, and a storyboard artist before becoming a writer. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two children, and two cats.
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Kristin Varner
Kristin Varner grew up in the Rocky Mountains of Utah, where she fell in love with animals at a young age. Kristin received her degree in illustration from Rhode Island School of Design and has created art for children’s books, games, apparel, and toys. Her debut graphic novel, Horse Trouble (2021), received an American Library Association Best Graphic Novel for Children Award. Dog Trouble (2024) her second middle grade graphic novel has already received a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Award.
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She lives on a wooded island near Seattle, Washington with her husband and daughter and is often distracted while working in her studio by one rambunctious kitty and one big, snoozing dog. When she’s not drawing cute animals in her studio, she’s p -
Nicki Greenberg
Nicki Greenberg is a writer and illustrator with a special interest in sequential art narrative - a fancy way of describing comics.
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Nicki's first books, The Digits series, were published when she was fifteen years old, and sold more than 380,000 copies. Since then, she has devoted most of her ink to comics, but has also written and illustrated fiction and non-fiction books for children.
At seventeen, Nicki fell in love with The Great Gatsby. Almost ten years later, she set out to pay tribute to F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel by interpreting it in comic art form. It took more than six years to complete this enormous labour of love.
This mad undertaking was followed by three years' passionate work on Shakespeare's Hamlet, which was finally staged o -
John Kinsella
John Kinsella is the author of more than twenty collections of poetry. The recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award, he has taught at Cambridge University and Kenyon College. He lives in Western Australia.
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Lisa Stringfellow
Lisa Stringfellow writes middle grade fiction and has a not-so-secret fondness for fantasy with a dark twist. She is the author of two books for young readers, KINGDOM OF DUST and A COMB OF WISHES, which Newbery Award–winning author Kelly Barnhill called “one of the most promising works of fiction in a long time.” She writes for her twelve-year-old self, the kid waiting to be the brown-skinned hero of an adventure, off saving the world.
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Lisa’s work often reflects her West Indian and Black southern heritage. She received the inaugural Kweli Color of Children’s Literature Manuscript Award for a draft of A COMB OF WISHES, which was a Bram Stoker Award Finalist, an Indies Introduce Top Ten title, an Indie Next List selection, and a New England B -
Annaleise Byrd
Annaleise Byrd grew up on a farm in Queensland, ignoring most farm-related pursuits in favour of reading books. She then spent nine years in England and Canada, neglecting a variety of jobs in favour of reading books. Eventually, she realised the best way to get away with this was to become an author.
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Annaleise now writes funny books for kids and lives in Brisbane with her husband, two young sons and rescue greyhound. Her debut middle grade novel, Losing the Plot, was published by Walker Books Australia in March 2024. It was followed by a sequel, Down the Plot Hole, in April 2025, along with her debut picture book, You Are Not a Pup!, with Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing. -
Helen Edwards
Dr Helen Edwards is an Australian author and speaker who writes stories of nature, magic and history. She has a PhD in Psychology and a long background working in mental health.
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Helen is a mid-career SA Literary Fellow in 2025, supported by Writers' SA and the State Library of South Australia. Her fellowship project - A Light on the Rocks - features the true history of the wreck of the S.S Admella and the Cape Jaffa lighthouse, as well as exploring themes of ocean conservation. It will be published on 28/1/26 with Riveted Press. This project was also supported by the History Trust of South Australia’s South Australian History Fund.
Set across two timelines, connected by place, mystery, and magic, A Light on the Rocks is a haunting tale, abou