Benjamin Johnston works as a mild-mannered architect by day but roams imaginary streets as a masked vigilante-illustrator by night. Add to this that he is also a husband and dad of two girls… and he is really looking forward to the day he might actually have enough time for everything he wants to get done. Drawing and illustrating for children have always been his passion. He is the illustrator and co-creator of the successful STEM-inspired Engibears series.

Steve Heron’s passion is to write quality kids’ books that will touch and tickle kids’ hearts and foster hope. Steve’s first series of picture books that focus on social issues were released in 2007. His first middle-grade novel Maximus was published by Serenity Press in 2018. Steve completed a Diploma of Children’s Writing and Publishing in 2015 and in 2016 received an Order of Australia Medal for his contribution to the social and emotional wellbeing of children. Ling Li’s Lantern is Steve’s first stand-alone picture book.

Margaret Hickey is an award-winning author and playwright from North East Victoria.

Hickey’s work has been shortlisted and won prizes in many awards, including the AAWP/ASSF Short Story Award and the Grace Marion Award. Margaret holds a PhD in Creative writing and teaches English at La Trobe University.

Margaret’s short story collection, Rural Dreams, was published by MidnightSun in October 2020.

For decades Marian Matta wrote whatever was called for, from medical articles and historical research to film scripts, but she began concentrating on the short story format in 2006 after being inspired by Annie Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain.

Her stories have subsequently appeared in several anthologies, but Life, Bound is her first solo collection. A grandmother, history tragic, internet junkie and circus student, she lives in Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges with her husband, and is pleased to call Heath Ledger her muse. Optimism is her watchword.

Marian’s collection of short stories, Life, Bound, was published by MidnightSun in October 2020.

Hannah Sommerville is an award-winning picture book illustrator from the South Coast of NSW. With over a decade of experience in illustration, Hannah has now illustrated more than a dozen picture books.
In 2022 her book Jetty Jumping, written by Andrea Rowe, published by Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing, was awarded the CBCA Book of the Year — Early Childhood. Her illustrations, which include watercolour, gouache, coloured pencil and digital mediums, are inspired by the playfulness and tenderness of family life and are drawn from her own memories of childhood and experiences as a mother.

Mike Dumbleton is an award-winning picture book writer with 10 ‘Notable Books’ selected by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. His book, Muddled-up Farm, was the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year, 2004, and Cat was a CBCA Honour Book, 2008.

Additionally, Anisa’s Alphabet gained international recognition as a White Ravens reading recommendation (2021 Munich). Mike has also received a Federal Minister’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Improving Literacy for his work as an educator and a writer over an extended period of time.

In his spare time, Mike enjoys reading, travelling, trying to keep fit, listening to jazz and watching sport.

Dominic Carew is a lawyer and writer from Sydney. He has practised law in Sydney, London, Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands in leading global law firms and financial institutions. He has an MA in Creative Writing from UTS, for which he received an Outstanding Student Award. Dominic has won or been shortlisted for many major short story awards, including the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

No Neat Endings is Dominic’s first collection of stories.

Beverley McWilliams is a children’s author from South Australia with a passion for historical fiction. Her debut picture book Born to Fly published by MidnightSun Publishing was a CBCA notable book. Beverley has published two middle-grade historical novels with Pantera Press: The Reindeer and the Submarine (2022) and Spies in the Sky (2023). Beverley is the event coordinator for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (South Australia).

Amber Moffat is a writer and visual artist based in Western Australia. She believes that being able to share stories is the most magnificent thing about being human. Amber is originally from New Zealand and still has strong ties to her hometown of Dunedin. She is an experienced teacher and a fierce advocate for arts education.

At the end of 2015 Amber was awarded an Emerging Writers’ Mentorship by the Australian Society of Authors. The judges said of her work, “This picture book text was absolutely wonderful – lyrical, evocative, poetic, and quite unusual. It had a really unique voice, and the imagery was very striking.”

Amber was the recipient of a Paper Bird Fellowship in 2018, and she completed the final artwork for her debut picture book, I Would Dangle the Moon, during her residency at Fremantle’s Paper Bird Books and Arts.

Rachel Hennessy is the award-winning author of five novels of contemporary fiction: The Quakers (Wakefield Press, 2008), The Heaven I Swallowed (Wakefield Press, 2013)), and the three books in The Burning Days trilogy: River Stone (MidnightSun, 2019), Mountain Arrow (MidnightSun, 2020) and now City Knife.

Her first novel, about a group of obsessive teenagers, was described by John Birmingham as ‘un-put-down-able’ and was the winner of the Adelaide Festival’s Best Unpublished Manuscript Award. Her second novel was Runner Up in the Australian/Vogel Award, long-listed for the Nita B Kibble Award and described by Australian Aboriginal Studies as ‘an important book’. Rachel lives in Melbourne with her partner and their two young daughters.

After completing her BA and PhD in literature at UWA, Fiona Burrows is now focusing on her first love, children’s picture books. She has had work published in journals including the Australian Poetry Journal, Writ Review and Westerly, exhibited in local galleries, and won awards and commendations including the Town of Mosman Park’s Open Art Prize, the CYA Writing and Illustrating Competition, and the ASA’s Ray Koppe Young Writers’ Residency.

Fiona’s picture book, The Day We Built the Bridge, with Samantha Tidy, was published by MidnightSun in February 2019.

Fiona’s picture book, The Friendly Games, with Kaye Baillie, was published by MidnightSun in June 2020.

Samantha Tidy is a writer of children’s, young adult and adult fiction. She has a Masters in Creative Writing and is the author of Cappuccino Diva, The Blue Polar Bear and The Flying Dream. Her most recent novel for adults, The Happiness Jar, won the ACT Writing and Publishing Award for Fiction, among several other award nominations.

Samantha’s picture book, The Day We Built the Bridge, was published by MidnightSun in February 2019.

S.J. Morgan grew up in the UK and arrived in Australia many years ago, via a twelve-month round-the-world air ticket. She lived in New Zealand for ten years before settling in South Australia. In her former life she was an Occupational Therapist, but she now writes full-time. She writes across several genres and has won prizes for short fiction as well as an Australian Society of Authors mentorship for her children’s writing.

She has been writing for over ten years and, in addition to short stories and articles, has written six novels. She won first prize for short fiction at the Salisbury Writers’ Festival and was awarded a year-long mentorship by the Australian Society of Authors. Continue reading S. J. Morgan →

Originally an actress, debut novelist D.M. Cameron is an AWGIE nominated radio dramatist, award-winning playwright and celebrated short film writer. She received funding to begin work on her first novel and was then selected for a Varuna residency to further develop this initial draft into what became Beneath the Mother Tree.

www.dmcameron.com

Narelda Joy grew up in a creative household with an inspired mum and a large sewing room, which contained a plethora of goodies with which she could use to create. She continues to create anything in two or three dimensions including puppets, models, creatures and illustrations. She considers herself fortunate to be able to create imaginary worlds anytime she wants to.

Narelda Joy lives surrounded by beautiful flora and fauna in the Blue Mountains, Australia. She has two dogs and a cat, as well as lots of native birds who visit her garden daily.

Narelda’s picture book Message in a Sock with Kaye Baillie was published in May 2018.