AUTHOR

Kirsty's first novel, released in 1999 by Allen and Unwin, ZARCONI'S INCREDIBLE TRAVELLING CIRCUS, won the Western Australian Premier's Award 2000 for Children's Books.

In 2001 her second novel, MARKET BLUES, was released to enthusiastic reviews. A fast paced time-slip adventure story that finds its hero, Sam Sullivan flung back through time to 1901. Mike Shuttleworth of The Age wrote "MARKET BLUES is exciting, ambitious and unputdownable for early and pre-teenage readers." Market Blues was shortlisted for the 2001 Aurealis Award for longer children's fiction.

Kirsty has been the recipient of grants from both VicArts and the Australia Council. She is currently working on a work of historical fiction, set in India, that will be published by Allen and Unwin in 2010. She is also the author of several works of non-fiction, including MAN-EATERS AND BLOOD SUCKERS, HOWARD FLOREY-MIRACLE MAKER and TOUGH STUFF - true stories about kids and courage. Tough Stuff has been widely used in schools for its upfront and accessible true stories about amazing kids throughout history.

Kirsty's workshops help students explore new approaches to writing by rousing their innate curiosity about the world. She motivates kids to look at their own lives and the world around them to find inspiration for their writing.

She encourages kids to look at the ideas and information behind their stories and guides them to discover new techniques for research using the resources available to them. Whether they are working on non-fiction or fiction writing projects, Kirsty inspires them to use both their imagination and their curiosity about the world to get to the heart of their stories.

Her preferred audience is upper primary and lower secondary students, teachers and librarians.

You can find out more about Kirsty on her website.