James Valentine is a broadcaster for ABC radio in Sydney, Australia. The JumpMan books are his first for children. He has also written for Rolling Stone, Vogue, and the Sydney Morning Herald and is a musician who recorded two number-one hits and a number of platinum albums with the Models. James lives with his wife, Joanne, and two children, Ruby and Roy, just outside Sydney. Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Hi. A teacher-librarian yelled at me to update this, so here goes. Time to talk about myself in the third-person. Will Kostakis is an absolute delight. In the past, he has written everything from celebrity news stories that score cease and desist letters, to tweets for professional wrestlers. Nowadays, he’s best known (but not particularly well known) for his award-winning YA novels. His first novel, Loathing Lola, was released when he was just nineteen. His second, The First Third, won the 2014 Gold Inky Award. It was also shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year and Australian Prime Minister’s Literary awards, among others. The Sidekicks was his third novel for young adults, and his American debut. It went on to win the IBBY Australia Ena Noel Award. Most recently, Will has applied his trademark style to the fantasy genre, with Monuments and its sequel, Rebel Gods. As a high school student, Will won Sydney Morning Herald Young Writer of the Year for a collection of short stories. He has since contributed to numerous anthologies, including the ABIA Award-winning Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology. An advocate for young readers and writers, Will was awarded the 2020 Maurice Saxby Award by the School Library Association of New South Wales for service to children’s and young adult literature.

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.

Phillip Gwynne's first novel Deadly Unna? the literary hit of 1998, has now sold over 180,000 copies. It was made into the feature film Australian Rules for which Phillip won an AFI award. The sequel, Nukkin Ya, was published to great acclaim in 2000. He has also written The Worst Team Ever, Born to Bake, and A Chook Called Harry in the Aussie Bites series, and Jetty Rats. Phillip's latest novel, the adult detective thriller The Build Up, is being made into a 13-part TV series on SBS, and his YA novel, Swerve, will be published in 2010. He now lives in Leura, New South Wales, with his wife and three children: aged 17, 2 and 1

One of twelve children, Justin grew up on a farm in Otaki, New Zealand. He wrote his first book, a ten page cartoon about his pet turtle, Bubble, when he was nine years old. His next cartoon was about Moriarty, his guinea pig, and filled a complete exercise book. When he was eleven, Justin began writing his first novel, but conked out after 35 pages. Justin D’Ath is the author of over 30 books for children and young adults, including the hugely popular Extreme Adventures series. Other books include Astrid Spark, Fixologist, The Skyflower, Robbie and the Dolphins, Infamous, and Why did the Chykkan cross the Galaxy? Justin says: ‘My main message is, Enjoy reading