Author / Illustrator Biographies
DUNCAN BALL is the best-selling author of the Selby series of books (the riotous escapades of Australia’s own talking dog), the Emily Eyefinger series (the adventures of a girl with an eye on the end of her finger) and many more humorous books for primary school children. His presentation is an amusing insight into the development of the Selby and Emily Eyefinger books, along with selected readings.
Duncan is on the Adelaide Festival Centre Program.
JANEEN BRIAN is the author of over sixty children’s books across many genres. Her picture book, Where does Thursday Go? was a CBC Honour Book, as were her information books, Pilawuk: When I was Young and Hoosh! Camels in Australia. In her presentations Janeen will outline the origins and processes by which she develops her books and, through readings and role play, promote their enjoyment. Her workshops will encourage children to have fun, to play with words and to develop confidence in the writer’s own voice.
Janeen will tour schools in the South East.
CHRISTINA BOOTH has illustrated for great Australian storytellers such as Colin Thiele, Max Fatchen and Christobel Mattingly and has a great passion for telling stories through pictures. Now she is very excited to be telling stories using words as well. Her first ‘solo’ picture book is Purinina, a Devil’s Tale. In her presentation Christina will discuss how we can learn about the world around us and remember the important aspects through story. She will share why she wanted to write about devils, how she did it and what she learnt as she was writing and illustrating.
Christina is on the Adelaide Festival Centre Program.
DAVID CORNISH trained as a designer/illustrator, illustrating picture books including Grannysaurus Rex and Emily and the Dragon. However, it is with his illustrated fantasy series Monster Blood Tattoo that David has become acclaimed. The first book Foundling is rich in allusions to the Half-Continent and the struggle between monsters and humankind; its ‘Explicarium’ explains the lore and history of this world in its own language, a fascinating mixture of faux Latin, Classical Greek and German, that nonetheless reads as a fresh new form of expression. The second book in the Monster Blood Tattoo series will be available in 2007.
David will visit outer-metropolitan schools.
PHIL CUMMINGS is the author of many books for children including the best-selling novel Angel and the critically acclaimed Breakaway. Phil’s books span the age spectrum and his latest picture book Baby, Baby was selected by The Advertiser Little Big Book Club to be included in reading packs for all babies in South Australia. Phil’s presentation will include the story of his brand new novel, Danny Allen Was Here.
Phil will visit outer-metropolitan schools.
JACKIE FRENCH has written over 100 books for children, including the classic Diary of a Wombat, with over a million copies sold in 19 languages. Jackie has received more than 50 awards and shortlistings in Australia and overseas for her books, the most recent being Pharaoh, The Goat that Sailed the World and Josephine Wants to Dance. In her presentation ‘Listening to the Voices of the Past’ Jackie explains how she takes old stories, like the ancient Egyptian, Narmer Pallete, or the logs and diaries of those on James Cook’s ship, the Endeavour, and makes them speak to modern readers.
Jackie is on the Adelaide Festival Centre Program.
AMANDA GRAHAM writes and illustrates picture books and short stories for young children. Her first book, Arthur, appeared in 1984. Her recent works include Bushranger Bill written by Megan de Kantzow, The Only Me written by Meredith Harvey and several non-fiction texts for Era Publications’ Wings series. Many stories spring from a writer’s own life experience and when students meet Amanda and listen to her stories, they will find out what inspired her to write them. A quirky, engaging character can be a good starting point for a story. In her workshops Amanda will help students bring a character to life through sketches and notes in preparation for story writing.
Amanda will tour schools in the Riverland.
ROSANNE HAWKE has written 14 books for young people, including Soraya the Storyteller which was shortlisted for the SA Festival Awards for Literature and for the CBC Book of the Year. In her presentation ‘Staying Alive through Stories’ Rosanne will discuss how Sheherezade kept her head by telling stories, and will use her own books to demonstrate how stories can keep us alive in other ways. Soraya keeps her spirit and her sense of self alive, the stories in Wolfchild keep culture and beliefs alive, and the picture story book Mustara keeps alive heritage and culture.
Rosanne is on the Adelaide Festival Centre Program.
JOHN HEFFERNAN writes books for children on a range of subjects and genres for a variety of ages. One of his favourites is the award-winning Spud series; three books Spud, Chips and Pup deal with life on the land in Australia seen through the eyes of the work dogs. The books are fiercely realistic. In addition to realistic fiction, John writes science fiction, fantasy, horror and picture books. John is a master at sharing his passion for writing stories with children of all ages.
John is on the Adelaide Festival Centre Program and will tour schools in the Lower Flinders.
SALLY HEINRICH is an author and illustrator of children’s fiction and non-fiction. Living and travelling in Asia has strongly influenced her work, which aims to bridge boundaries and foster a greater understanding between people from different cultures and backgrounds. In her presentation Sally will discuss the process of writing and illustrating a book using initial thumbnail sketches, dummy books, roughs, finished illustrations and source materials. She will highlight the differences between fiction and non-fiction research and writing. In her workshops she will help students produce a book about a festival, event or issue of local significance.
Sally will tour schools in the Murraylands.
LEIGH HOBBS is an artist and author best known for the children’s books featuring his characters Old Tom, Horrible Harriet, Fiona the Pig and the ghastly students in 4F For Freaks. Leigh frequently draws on his years as an art teacher as material for his books. Using images and sculptures, Leigh will discuss the characters, subtexts and history of his children’s book characters. In his workshops he will demonstrate how to create a character in words and pictures and how to develop this into a picture storybook.
Leigh is on the Adelaide Festival Centre Program and will tour schools in the Mid North.
ELIZABETH HONEY grew up on a farm, went to art college, travelled and worked at many jobs before she became an illustrator. For years she drew pictures for other people’s books, then she started writing and illustrating her own. Her books are lasting favourites; they win literary awards and are published in many countries. Elizabeth’s novel The Ballad of Cauldron Bay and her award-winning picture book Not a Nibble! are set on family holidays at the beach, an Australian birthright, it seems. Elizabeth will contrast the light-hearted picture book with the more serious novel, looking at the ways holiday stories reflect individual and national character. Elizabeth is a 2007 May Gibbs Fellow and appears in Allwrite! courtesy of the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust.
Elizabeth is on the Adelaide Festival Centre Program.
SASCHA HUTCHINSON is a picture book author/illustrator who has worked in children’s publishing since 1994. Her recent books include Little Duck and Pig Out! as well as Counting Clues written by Brenda Parkes. In her presentations Sascha will share her experiences of creating her picture books and demonstrate how both written and visual stories come together to create something new and wonderful. Her workshops will enable students to create their own picture books using the same techniques that Sascha uses: watercolour (Little Duck) and collage (Pig Out; Counting Clues).
Sascha will tour schools on the Yorke Peninsula.
MICHAEL HYDE has written many award winning books for children of all ages. One of his latest successes is his series Change the Game, choose-your-own adventure footy and soccer books, which have become very popular with young readers. His recent body-boarding novel Surfing Goliath is also full of adventure with big sharks and big waves. In his presentation Michael will show how he uses the choose-your-own-adventure device and others to bring adventure and excitement to his stories.
Michael is on the Adelaide Festival Centre Program and will tour schools in the Far North.
DAVID KENNETT has been illustrating books since 1988. He wrote and illustrated six award winning titles in the Solo Wildlife series, won the CBC Eve Pownall Award for his Olympia: Warrior Athletes of Ancient Greece, written by Dyan Blacklock and in 2003 was awarded a Centenary of Federation Medal for services to Australia through literature. Using his books on ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt as examples, David’s presentations will focus on the amount of research required to produce a book, imaginative guesswork and using contemporary cultures as an aid to imagination. David will also share his travel sketchbooks – picture books that tell many stories.
David will visit outer-metropolitan North schools.
LEONIE NORRINGTON grew up in southern Arnhemland in a mixed cultural environment and is interested in the places where cultures and languages meet. Her books, including The Barrumbi Kids, The Spirit of Barrumbi and Leaving Barrumbi, reflect this interest. Leonie will share her personal stories and show how we can understand ourselves, our people and the world we live in through story, the oral histories of our country and our ancestors, and the stories we read, see and hear throughout our lives. In workshops she will encourage young writers to use real life experiences to create fiction.
Leonie is on the Adelaide Festival Centre Program and will tour schools on Eyre Peninsula.
LAURA PETERSON began her career as an illustrator after she moved to Australia from Hungary in 1996. In 2005 she was awarded Honour Book in the CBC Crichton Awards for Eyes in the Night and was selected to complete the late Steven Woolman’s illustrations for the picture book Kestrel. In her presentations, Laura will tell a light-hearted story of how she became an illustrator. She will show examples of her work from childhood ‘masterpieces’ to present day illustrations with some sidetrack interests and ambitions in between. Students will develop understandings about the lifestyle, natural habitat and habits of an illustrator. Her workshops will be a playful exploration of ideas for developing creatures from the slightly strange to the dramatically outrageous.
Laura will visit Fleurieu Peninsula schools.
RUTH STARKE began writing fiction for children in 1992, and since then has had published 19 novels for young people, including the best-selling Nips XI which was CBC Honour Book in 2002. Ruth’s Orphans of the Queen was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Award and the New South Wales Premier’s Award in 2005. Ruth will discuss the role of background research in writing a good story.
Ruth will visit Barossa Valley schools.
ALAN TUCKER painted and wrote regularly in his back shed, enjoying his hobby and slowly developing a personal artistic style in which words, narrative and images combine. During his first exhibition of paintings he was approached by a publisher and asked if he would like to adapt his work for a book. Alan agreed; a number of his award-winning books have been published since. He will talk about the writing, illustrating and publishing process, and discuss issues from his latest book on Cyclone Tracy and his current works in progress. With small groups he will conduct writing and illustrating workshops.
Alan will tour schools on Kangaroo Island.
