Creative duo Davina Bell and Allison Colpoys make beautiful picture books that are loved by children and adults alike. Their best-sellers The Underwater Fancy-dress Parade which won the 2016 Australian Book Industry Award for Best Children’s Book from a Small Publisher and Under The Love Umbrella which was shortlisted for the same award in 2018, present the perfect marriage of Davina’s words and Allison’s illustrations.  Their latest collaboration is a gorgeous book called All The Ways To Be Smart which won an ABIA for Children’s Picture Book of the Year this year.

About Davina Bell:

Davina Bell is a writer for young people of many ages, and a children’s book editor. Her award-winning and Notable picture books include All the Ways To Be Smart, Under the Love Umbrella, The Underwater Fancy-dress Parade, Oh Albert! and Hattie Helps Out. She is also the author of the Alice books in Penguin’s best-selling Our Australian Girl series, the Lemonade Jones series of Junior Fiction, Sophia and the Corner Park Clubhouse (the first in a new middle-grade series) and a young-adult novel that was shortlisted for the Text Prize and will be published in 2020.

Having been a Senior Editor at Penguin Books, she now works on the children’s list at Affirm Press in Melbourne. A lover of words and ideas in many forms, Davina regularly travels the country, speaking to children and adults about books and writing. The magic of picture books continues to enchant her. 

Find out more about Davina at:

Website: davinabell.com

Instagram: @davina.bell

About Allison Colpoys:

Allison Colpoys is an award-winning designer and illustrator, and the Art Director at Scribe Publications. Her picture books include The Underwater Fancy-dress Parade, Under the Love Umbrella, If All the World Were… and All the Ways To Be Smart.

As well as receiving numerous Australian Book Design Awards for her illustration and cover design, she has won the CBCA Crichton Award for Best New Talent and two Australian Book Industry Awards.

Find out more about Allison at:

Website: jackywinter.com/artists/allison-colpoys

Anna Walker and Jane Godwin have created six children's picture books together – Little Cat and the Big Red Bus, All Through the Year, Today We Have No Plans, Starting School, What Do You Wish For? and Go Go and the Silver Shoes. They have just finished their seventh book, Tilly, which will be published in October 2019.

About Jane Godwin

Jane Godwin is a the highly acclaimed author of over twenty-five books for children, across all styles and ages. Her work is published internationally and she has received many commendations, including the Queensland Premier's Award (Children's Books), the Aurealis Award and the Animal Welfare Award, and shortlistings in the CBC Book of the Year Awards, the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, the New South Wales State Literary Award (Patricia Wrightson Prize) the YABBA Awards, the Speech Pathology Awards, The Family Award for Children’s Books, and the Australian Book Industry Awards. For many years, Jane worked as the Children’s Publisher at Penguin Books Australia. Jane's most recent novel is As Happy as Here, published by Hachette in August 2019, and her most recent picture books are Ivanhoe Swift Left Home at Six, illustrated by A. Yi, and published by Allen & Unwin, and Tilly with Anna Walker.

Find out more about Jane at:

Website: janegodwin.com.au

Instagram:  @janiegodwin

About Anna Walker

Anna Walker writes and illustrates children’s books from her studio in Melbourne. Crafted with pencil, ink and collage, Anna’s illustrations are inspired by the everyday details of life and the amusing antics of her menagerie. Anna’s book, as author-illustrator with Penguin, Mr Huff, won the 2016 CBCA Book of the Year for Early Childhood and was shortlisted in the 2016 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Together with Jane Godwin, Anna has also created many beautiful picture books, including Go Go and the Silver Shoes. Anna’s picture book Florette, was shortlisted in the 2018 CBCA awards for Picture Book of the Year, the 2018 Australian Book Industry Picture Book of the Year Awards, the 2018 Australian Design Association Picture Book of the Year Awards, and won the 2018 Wilderness Society Environment Award for Children’s Literature.

Find out more about Anna at:

Website: annawalker.com.au

Facebook: @annawalkerbooks

Instagram: @_annawalker_

Twitter: @_annawalker__

Julie Hunt is a Tasmanian children’s author with an interest in landscapes and the stories they inspire. Dale Newman is an illustrator and artist with a fundamental passion for creating soulful images. Kidglovz was Dale and Julie’s first collaboration and it was the winner of the QLD Literary Awards Giffith University Children’s Book Award and was shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year 2016.

Find out more about Julie at: 

Website: http://www.juliehunt.com.au/

Find out more about Dale at: 

Website: http://www.dalenewman.com.au/

Style file: https://asastylefile.com/illustrator/dale-newman/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaleNewmanIllustration/

This episode we’re giving away some amazing Davina Bell and Allison Colpoys picture books, thanks to the wonderful people at Scribble - All the Ways to be Smart, Under the Love Umbrella and The Underwater Fancy-Dress Parade!

Head to our WIN page and simply tell us two people YOU think should collaborate on a book. Enter your answer (or ask a parent to) by 5pm Tuesday 8th October to be in the running.