"I was born in Young, a small town in south western NSW in 1950. After a few years we moved to Glen Innes, on the northern tablelands and then when I was ten we moved out west to Dubbo. We moved because my father was a schoolteacher and each change meant a promotion for him. There were six children in the family. I was number three and there wasn't a lot of money. We didn't have television and of course there was no such thing as a computer. Books and reading were hugely important. I remember going to the library on a Saturday morning and borrowing five or six books and reading them all by Sunday night. When I finished High School I studied at the University of Sydney. I had a great time studying mainly history but also getting involved in lots of things happening at the University and the city. It was the time of the anti-Vietnam war protests and the rise of the Women's Movement. I taught for two years in a small town, Picton, which is just outside of Sydney. I really enjoyed that time but I wanted to travel and in 1976 I headed off for five years. I based myself first in Italy where I taught English and then in London where I started writing my first novel, Eleanor, Elizabeth. I attended a creative writing group where the other students pushed me to write a better book. In London I also met my husband. We came back to Sydney in 1980. We've got three daughters. When we first came back I taught at the University of NSW but now I write full-time. I've written thirty books and I've also taught occasional courses in creative writing and I've visited lots of schools to talk about my work. I write picture books, novels for young kids and also novels for slightly older readers. I've done a book about writing and also a small amount of writing for television: Bananas in Pyjamas and Magic Mountain. The writer's life is pretty good. It's a job where you work for yourself, in your daggy track suit, at times that suit you. What more could you ask for?" from: http://www.libbygleeson.com.au/biogra...

Goldie's parents had migrated from Poland and when she was small, she hardly spoke any English. Her first four Young Adult books were 'Dolly Fiction' novels published under the pseudonym of Gerri Lapin. Her first book under her own name, "Mavis Road Medley" is a time travel fiction exploring the world of Princes Hill and her parents' struggles to survive the Depression. Since then Goldie has written more than 90 books, and many prize winning short stories and articles. These days Goldie is known for her historical, science fiction and mystery novels, plus her short stories and non fiction such as Mentoring Your Memoir. 'My Australian Story: Surviving Sydney Cove' is now in its 10th edition. 'Mavis Road Medley' (Margaret Hamilton Books 1991) was chosen by the Victorian Australian Centre for Youth Literature as one of their 150 'treasures'. Some of her latest books include 3 collections of short stories for young readers, Killer Virus, Horrible Cousins, and Space Footy. Her crime stories for children is the series A~PI: Hedgeburners and Car-Crimes. Her latest historical fiction for young readers is 'The Youngest Camelleer' 'Gallipoli Medals' and 'Cybertricks; Just out are the YA 'Dessi's Romance' and 'That Stranger Next Door. For middle grade readers: "eSIde, a Journey into Cyberspace", "Neptunia" and for Junior readers "Gallipoli Medals" For adults a paranormal romance "Penelope's Ghost" and 'Emily's Romance' Latest YA verse novel is 'In Hades' and the middle grade 'My Holocaust Story: Hanna" 'For YA 'The Shakespeare Tiilogy' and 'Cruel Cove'

Pseudonyms P. Scot-Bernard, Trisha Bernard, Judy Bernard-Waite. Patricia & her husband Kenneth have four children: Marcelle, Shona, S'Haila, Tyru. She was one of the first Australians allowed into China during the 1970s. Able to speak five languages, she has visited seventy countries and actually lived in twenty of them. "I hitchhiked with my one-year-old daughter around Japan and Korea just after the Korean War and became stranded on the Niagara Falls Bridge without a passport". An artist, she worked as a painter of landscapes and portraits for fifteen years and turned to writing in the 1980s. "I started writing when a friend asked me to write down the stories I was telling at a kindergarten. Since then, every children's/teenage book I have written has been published." In addition to publishing children's books that include "Jacaranda Shadow", "The Mask", and the "Outcast" science-fiction trilogy, Patricia has written three novels for adults under a pen name and also written for film and television. "I hope to achieve racial and national harmony between children and parents in the linguistically diverse Australian schools and to teach ‘even the smallest thing’ to the reader, while they have a good time reading my books". "I work from 9:00 to 9:00, six days a week when writing and longer when editing because I hate editing. My motto is ‘if it is not fun, don't do it,’ so when the sun shines I spend three hour lunches at the beach, editing and swimming and I can be taken away from my computer by any simple excuse given by any friend who drops in and suggests a coffee, a champagne, or a swim." "I lecture in schools and to writers, librarians, and women's literary groups; mostly about myself, my books, and the benefits of turning off the television and reading. I have published 78 books!" "The purpose behind writing the ‘Outcast’ trilogy was to invent an entire world with the same tensions as our own, and through a hero and a group of heroes, fix it up". "The advice I would give to aspiring writers in Australia is: don't give up your day job. Our population is too small". ~ Patricia's website is run by her Granddaughter, Celeste out of her love for literature and for her Grandmother. ~

Born in Indonesia of French parents, Sophie Masson was sent to live with her paternal grandmother in Toulouse, France, when she was just a baby and lived there till she was nearly five, when her parents came back from Indonesia and took her to Australia. All the rest of her childhood, the family stayed in Australia, with frequent trips back to France, and this dual heritage underpins a good deal of Sophie's work. Sophie's first book appeared in 1990 and since then she has published more than seventy books, for children, young adults and adults. Her books have been published in Australia, the USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and many other countries. She has also had many short stories and articles published in newspapers, magazines, and online journals. Sophie holds a BA and M.Litt in French and English literature, and a PhD in Creative Practice. A former Chair of the Australian Society of Authors, she is the current Chair (2021) of the New England Writers' Centre and of the Small Press Network. She is also the President committee of the New England and North West sub-branch of the Children's Book Council of Australia, NSW branch. Sophie has received several awards for her creative work, including the Patricia Wrightson Prize in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, and the YA category of the Aurealis Awards. In 2019 she received an AM in the Order of Australia for her significant service to literature as an author, a publisher, and through service to literary organisations. Sophie's website is at www.sophiemassonauthor.com She has a writing blog at www.firebirdfeathers.com Her You Tube channel, with trailers to many of her books, is at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWLa... She is also a regular contributor to the popular authorship blog Writer Unboxed, www.writerunboxed.com

Kerry Greenwood was born in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray and after wandering far and wide, she returned to live there. She has a degree in English and Law from Melbourne University and was admitted to the legal profession on the 1st April 1982, a day which she finds both soothing and significant. Kerry has written twenty novels, a number of plays, including The Troubadours with Stephen D'Arcy, is an award-winning children's writer and has edited and contributed to several anthologies. In 1996 she published a book of essays on female murderers called Things She Loves: Why women Kill. The Phryne Fisher series (pronounced Fry-knee, to rhyme with briny) began in 1989 with Cocaine Blues which was a great success. Kerry has written thirteen books in this series with no sign yet of Miss Fisher hanging up her pearl-handled pistol. Kerry says that as long as people want to read them, she can keep writing them. Kerry Greenwood has worked as a folk singer, factory hand, director, producer, translator, costume-maker, cook and is currently a solicitor. When she is not writing, she works as a locum solicitor for the Victorian Legal Aid. She is also the unpaid curator of seven thousand books, three cats (Attila, Belladonna and Ashe) and a computer called Apple (which squeaks). She embroiders very well but cannot knit. She has flown planes and leapt out of them (with a parachute) in an attempt to cure her fear of heights (she is now terrified of jumping out of planes but can climb ladders without fear). She can detect second-hand bookshops from blocks away and is often found within them. For fun Kerry reads science fiction/fantasy and detective stories. She is not married, has no children and lives with a registered wizard. When she is not doing any of the above she stares blankly out of the window. http://www.earthlydelights.net.au