Ursula Dubosarsky  wanted to be a writer from the age of six, and is now the author of over 60 books for children and young adults, which have won several national prizes, including the NSW, Victorian, South Australian and Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards. She has also been nominated several times for the prestigious international children’s literature prizes, the Astrid Lindgren award and the Hans Christian Andersen award. She is the current Australian Children’s Laureate, for 2020-2021. She lives in Sydney with her family. 

Find out more about Ursula at

ursuladubosarsky.squarespace.com

Find out more about the Children's Laureate program at: 

Website: childrenslaureate.org.au

Wendy Orr is a Canadian-born Australian writer. Her books for children and adults have been published in 29 countries and won awards around the world. Nim’s Island was the first Australian children’s book to become a Hollywood feature film (starring Jodie Foster, Gerard Butler and Abigail Breslin), and Nim at Sea was later filmed as Return to Nim’s Island, starring Bindi Irwin.

Her 2016 Dragonfly Song, a novel in free verse and prose of an outcast girl in Bronze Age Crete, received many honours in Australia and North America including the Prime Minister’s Award for Children’s Literature, and finalist for the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Award. That was followed by Swallow’s Dance and her latest book, Cuckoo’s Flight: a thrilling coming-of-age story as Clio battles the political power of the palace and her own feelings of inadequacy to save her town, her horses, and perhaps even herself, written in Orr’s signature blend of striking prose and emotionally taut verse.

Find out more about Wendy at:

Website: wendyorr.com

Twitter: @wendyorr

Instagram: @wendy_orr_author

Facebook: @WendyOrr.Author 

Alison Lester is the well-known creator of popular and award-winning children’s books: many of which reflect her own country childhood – mustering, doing stock work and riding bareback on the beach. When it was released, The Quicksand Pony was shortlisted for the National Children’s Award, Festival Awards for Literature in 1998, and in 1999 was the winner of the WA Young Readers Book Awards.

Alison visits Australian schools and has been a guest speaker at 

international festivals. She spends part of every year travelling to 

remote Indigenous communities, using her books to help children and 

adults write and draw about their own lives.

In 2012, Alison became Australia's first Children's Book Laureate, alongside Boori Monty Pryor. In 2016, she was awarded the Dromkeen Medal, and in 2018 she became the first children's book creator to win the Melbourne Prize for Literature, for her outstanding contribution to Australian literature and cultural and intellectual life. In 2019, Alison was awarded an Australia Post Legends Award and featured on a stamp, as well as being the recipient of a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

Find out more about Alison at:

Website: alisonlester.com

Instagram: @alisonlesterbooks

Facebook: @fishcreekgallery