Sally Rippin was born in Darwin, but grew up mainly in South-East Asia. As a young adult she lived in China for three years, studying traditional Chinese painting. Sally has over seventy books published, many of them award-winning, including two novels for young adults. Her most recent work includes the highly acclaimed children’s novel Angel Creek and the popular Billie B Brown books, which became the highest selling series for 6-8 year olds in Australia within the first year of their release. Sally is Australia’s highest selling female author and her Billie B Brown books have sold more than 4.5 million copies in 14 languages. ​ Sally is a popular presenter in schools and at literary festivals both in Australia and overseas and has a regular program on 3RRR interviewing children’s authors and industry professionals. She is a passionate ambassador for the 100 Story Building creative writing centre for marginalized youth and has mentored many emerging writers and illustrators. Recently, she and her partner co-founded Story Peddlers, a hand-made performance tent that packs away into a custom-built bike, with the aim of bringing back the art of the roving storyteller.

Some of my first short stories were crime fiction, and although in the last 20 years I have focused a lot more on writing children's and YA books, I've kept going with my crime writing. The first two novels are now stowed somewhere in the back of my filing cabinet! But "Trust Me, I'm Dead", first draft written in 2009, was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger and then published by Verve Books in the UK. What a journey with that novel. I love the character, a grumpy woman (secretly modelled on a young Judi Dench), and couldn't let go of the story. Nine drafts later ... More about my crime writing and books at www.sherrylclarkcrimewriter.com I have been writing poems and stories for over twenty-five years, and have two collections of poetry published. Perseverance really does count, I think, for all kinds of writing. In 1996 I wrote my first children’s book, "The Too-Tight Tutu", which was published in 1997 by Penguin Australia. I have since written over 60 children's and YA books, which are published around the world. My verse novel "Farm Kid" won the 2005 NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Children’s Books. "Sixth Grade Style Queen (Not!)" was a 2008 CBCA Honour Book. My YA novel "Dying to Tell Me", published in the USA by KaneMiller, has also been published in Australia by me. I'm a teacher in creative writing at Victoria University TAFE. My author website is at www.sherrylclark.com. I also work as a freelance editor, manuscript development editor and mentor - information on these at www.sherrylclarkwritingcoach.com. And yes, I also teach people how to develop their own blogs and websites!

Catherine Bateson has won the CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers twice and received three Honour Book Awards, including one for Older Readers. She teaches in the Professional Writing and Editing course at TAFE but is also available for school visits, to talk about both fiction writing and poetry. Where were you born? I was born in Sydney, but grew up in Brisbane where my mother owned a secondhand bookshop. What other jobs have you had? I’ve been an incredibly bad waitress, but otherwise my work has all been within the arts and education sphere. What themes are recurring in your work? The theme of family is strong in my work – the families we make ourselves, rather than are born into. I put this down to being an only child – and also my father’s death when I was nine. What have been the highlights of your career? Without doubt, the highlights have been winning CBCA awards and the Queensland Premier’s Children’s Book Award. Having my third collection of poetry published in an environment that is financially hostile to poetry is also a highlight. http://bookedout.com.au/find-a-speake...

Doug MacLeod is a Melbourne-based writer and TV producer who has worked on many of Australia's most popular comedy shows, including The Comedy Company, Fast Forward, Big Girls' Blouse, The Micallef Program and SeaChange. He was also the script editor on Kath and Kim. While he enjoys the TV work, he prefers writing books for young people. After leaving his full-time job in TV, Doug wrote the teenage novel Tumble Turn, which was published by Penguin in 2003, and is on the syllabus at Deakin University. On The Cards is a book of ridiculous greeting card rhymes with an introduction by Ben Elton that Doug wrote for the international charity Comic Relief in 2002. A second book of creepy rhymes, Spiky, Spunky, My Pet Monkey, was released in 2004. Both books are illustrated by Craig Smith and published by Penguin. Craig and Doug again collaborated on Leon Stumble’s Book of Stupid Fairytales, published by Working Title in 2005. Doug’s second young adult novel for Penguin, I’m Being Stalked by a Moonshadow (2006), was shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier’s Awards, and published in America by Front Street Press. Two fantasy novels, Kevin the Troll (2007) and The Clockwork Forest (2008), came next and were also published by Penguin. The Clockwork Forest was presented as a play at The Sydney Theatre Company in 2008. Doug’s third young adult novel, Siggy and Amber, was released by Penguin in 2009. But he’s probably best known for a book called Sister Madge’s Book of Nuns, which was published in 1986. He's less well known for The Life of a Teenage Body-snatcher, which was published by Penguin in 2010 and is a much better book, especially if you like your comedy a little black. Recent non-book-related activities include co-devising the animated TV series, Dogstar, for which he has won two Australian Writers’ Guild Awards and the inaugural John Hinde Award for Science Fiction. There are 52 episodes. Doug wrote half of them. Philip Dalkin wrote the other half. The show plays all over the world and premiered on the BBC. With satirist John Clarke and composer Alan John he wrote a play based on May Gibbs’ famous children’s book, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. It was directed by Neil Armfield and premiered at The Sydney Festival in 2007. With comedian Tracy Harvey he co-wrote the musical Call Girl in 2009, which had two Melbourne seasons. In 2008 Doug received the Fred Parsons Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Australian Comedy at the Australian Writers’ Guild Awards.

Paul Collins has written many books, mostly for younger readers. He is best known for his fantasy and science fiction titles: The Jelindel Chronicles (Dragonlinks, Dragonfang, Dragonsight and Wardragon), and The Quentaris Chronicles ─ co-edited with Michael Pryor ─ (Swords of Quentaris, Slaves of Quentaris, Dragonlords of Quentaris, Princess of Shadows, The Forgotten Prince, Vampires of Quentaris and The Spell of Undoing). His trade books published in America are The Earthborn, The Skyborn and The Hiveborn. Paul has edited many anthologies which include Trust Me!, Metaworlds and Australia’s first fantasy anthology, Dream Weavers. He also edited The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian SF&F. Paul has been short-listed for many awards and has won the Inaugural Peter McNamara and the A Bertram Chandler awards, both of which were for lifetime achievement in science fiction, and the Aurealis and William Atheling awards. His recent fantasy series is The World of Grrym (Allira’s Gift, Lords of Quibbitt and Morgassa’s Folly), in collaboration with Danny Willis. His latest YA book is The Only Game in the Galaxy, Book #3 in The Maximus Black Files. His book, Slaves of Quentaris, features in 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Die (UK, 2009). Paul’s adult books are the anthology The Government in Exile and Cyberskin. His current adult horror novel, The Beckoning, Damnation Books (US) is available from http://tinyurl.com/ny6urwy. Other than his writing, Paul is the publisher at Ford Street Publishing, publishing everything from picture books through to young adult literature, and he manages Creative Net, a speakers’ agency. Paul’s websites are: www.paulcollins.com.au; www.fordstreetpublishing.com and www.fordstreetpublishing.com/cnet Awards 1980s — 2000s a handful of nominations for Best Editor and Best Short Fiction in the Australian SF Achievement Awards 1999— Winner William Atheling Award for work on The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy; Shortlisted for the Aurealis Convenors’ Award. 2000— The Dog King, Notable Book Children’s Book Council; Shortlisted for the Clayton’s Award. 2001— Winner of the Aurealis Convenors’ Award (With Co-editor Meredith Costain) for Spinouts Bronze published by Pearson Education. Joint winner was Shaun Tan for The Lost Thing. 2002 — Winner of the inaugural Peter McNamara Award for lifetime achievement in SF. 2004 — Home Run (Illustrated by Connah Brecon), Notable Book, Children’s Book Council. 2009 — Morgassa's Folly (in collaboration with Danny Willis), short-listed for the Chronos Award. 2010 — The Slightly Skewed Life of Toby Chrysler, short-listed for The Speech Pathology Award. 2011 — The Glasshouse (illustrated by Jo Thompson) chosen by international IBBY as an Outstanding Book; short-listed for the CBC's Crichton Award. 2011 —Awarded the A Bertram Chandler Award for Lifetime Achievement in Australian Science Fiction.

Michael Pryor's bio Check out my Fantasy podcast, 'The World Below the War in the Heavens' wherever you get your podcasts! I was born in Swan Hill, Victoria. I spent my childhood in country Victoria and Melbourne before moving to Geelong at the age of 10. I lived in Geelong until I went to university in Melbourne after secondary school. I currently live in Melbourne. I’ve worked as a drainer’s labourer, a truck driver, a bathroom accessories salesperson, an Internet consultant, a Multimedia Developer, a Publisher, in a scrap metal yard and as a secondary school teacher. Whew. I’ve taught English, Literature, Drama, Legal Studies and Computer Studies. I've published over thirty-five novels and more than sixty of my short stories have appeared in Australia and overseas in publications such as Overland and the New South Wales School Magazine. My writing moves from literary fiction to genre Science Fiction to slapstick humour, depending on my mood. I’ve been shortlisted eleven times for the Aurealis Award for Speculative Fiction, and have also been nominated for a Ditmar award. My short stories have twice been featured in Gardner Dozois’ ‘Highly Recommended’ lists in The Year’s Best Science Fiction and The Year’s Best Fantasy. Nine of my books have been CBC Notable Books, I’ve been longlisted for a Golden Inky and I’ve been shortlisted for the WAYBRA Award. I’ve also twice won the Best and Fairest Award at West Brunswick Amateur Football Club. My reviews tend toward the three word style of the trenchant critic, N. Molesworth.

Simon Higgins has tried a lot of jobs, having worked as a disc jockey, laboratory assistant, marketing manager and even monster in a side-show ghost train -which he still calls ‘the zenith of his employment history.’ He also spent a decade in law enforcement. As a police officer in the South Australian Police Department, Simon served in several different postings over almost nine years, including two and a half years spent as a prosecutor. During his career he rose to the rank of Senior Constable and earned two commendations, one for initiative in the field, one for quality of prosecution service. Leaving the police force, he became a licensed private investigator, with cases ranging from murders to alleged UFO incidents. Later in life, Simon returned to his first love -writing- and found that his earlier occupations provided inspiration. He spent much of his youth in various martial arts clubs in South Australia, studying initially Ju-Jitsu, then later Shotokan Karate and Kodakan Judo as well as Kendo and Iaido (both traditional sword arts) under Japanese instruction. Perhaps as a result of his long-term interest in traditional combat arts, Simon has developed an abiding respect for Asian cultures and has visited Japan, China and the Philippines as well as Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. He believes that the legitimate Asian martial arts, as taught by those who created them, are not intended to exemplify aggression -the way Hollywood action movies often do- but rather they are meant to be a process of skill building and self development…a physical form of meditation in which the only real competition is against one’s self. Simon lives in the mountains of northern New South Wales and is proudly a student of Eishin-Ryu Iaido, taught on the Gold Coast in Queensland by Sensei Yasu Watanabe. Eishin Ryu is a 470 year old style of swordsmanship which prizes not only traditional techniques, but also medieval samurai etiquette and courtesy. Its members periodically compete in Iaido’s world titles in Kyoto, Japan, before His Imperial Highness, Prince Munenori Kaya. In 2007 Simon returned to Japan to train under ‘Kancho’ Glenn Stockwell, Seishinkan Iaido Dojo’s highest ranking instructor, who resides in Japan, and to participate in his first Kyoto ‘Taikai’ (contest). The event is held annually on a mountain top overlooking Kyoto, in a 1200 year old shrine surrounded by a forest of giant bamboo. At the age of 48, competing in the Dangai (beginners) class after less than a year’s training in Seishinkan Iaido Dojo, Simon placed in the top ten, a result he attributes to having ‘brilliant, patient teachers’. On returning home he also competed in the National Taikai held during the annual Australian Iaido Seminar in Queensland, as the most ‘junior’ member of a three-man Gold Coast team coached by Watanabe Sensei. Judging this contest were three important dignitaries from Japan: 10th Dan Hanshi (Master) Ashosai Fukushima Sensei, 9th Dan Hanshi and Souke (Headmaster and Style Guardian) of Eishin-Ryu Iaido, Ayosai Seimiya Sensei, and 8th Dan Iaido Federation CAO, Kenichiro Ikeda Sensei. In the presence of Stockwell Kancho and these high-ranking Japanese visitors, Simon was both honoured and delighted when the Gold Coast team, led by Nathan Nilsen, won the coveted Team Event gold medals. In 2008 Simon again competed in the Iaido world titles in Japan, this time placing 5th. At an Iaido grading held in 2009 he was awarded the rank of Shodan (Black Belt, First Degree) by masters representing the All Japan Iaido Federation. Experiencing the Tea Ceremony for the first time in Momoyama Castle, Fushimi, Japan, in 1982. The gentlemen to Simon’s left was from New York, the man to his right from Paris. On the far left, wearing the winged mantle of a high retainer, sits Okada-Sensei, a performance swordsman who also hosted the event. He’s shown briefing the trio of foreigners on the ritual. Oppo

I grew up (a long time ago!) in a small bush town in Africa. No TV, iPods, computer games and surfing the internet – you could say I had a very deprived childhood! Not so. Instead, for entertainment I learned to read. Books became my windows to the world: they told me about dragons and fairies and magic. They told me about other countries and other cultures. They told me about myself. And I have never stopped reading, because I love stories. I guess I always did things back to front – the hard way! In Africa, when I ran out of books to read, I wrote my own. I love writing stories, but I never thought about it as a grownup occupation. As a grownup, I had to go back to school to find out that I really was a writer. After doing the HSC at the age of 40, I went on to do a BA (Communications) degree at UTS. My major was creative writing, and suddenly I found myself experimenting with all sorts of genres and, in particular, writing the sorts of stories that I love to read – crime and timeslip fantasy back into the past.

Scot Gardner wasn't born reading and writing; in fact, he left school in year eleven to undertake an apprenticeship in gardening with the local council. He has worked as a waiter, masseur, delivery truck driver, home dad, counselor, and musician. These days he spends half the year writing and half the year on the road talking to people about his books and the craft of writing.