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Open Right

Location: Western Australia

Amanda Betts

Author, Education Consultant

Amanda (AJ) Betts is an award-winning author, teacher and cyclist, living in Perth. Her novel ‘Zac and Mia’ won the 2012 Text Prize for best unpublished manuscript.

» Read more about Amanda Betts

Julia Lawrinson

Author

Julia Lawrinson has written more than a dozen books for children and teenagers, many of them award-winning. She grew up in the outer suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, not long after the first moon landing. She loves dogs, oceans, and sunsets, and still likes to gaze at the night sky, just in case.

Julia’s new memoir, How To Avoid A Happy Life, is coming out soon and is suitable for senior students and adults. The book has already received wonderful attention and praise:

‘Astute, compassionate, heartbreaking, compelling – and sometimes downright astonishing.’

Kate Evans – ABC Radio National host of The Bookshelf

‘How To Avoid A Happy Life is a potent elixir of heartbreaking incident and astonishing resilience, and I’d have to add redemption. Julia Lawrinson is that rarest of things: a true original voice. Such an inventively irreverent and fearlessly honest memoir!  This book is exactly what George Eliot meant when she said, “Literature of the most intimate sublimity can actually tell us how emotionally crowded any given day can be, and yet still have a distinct philosophical vigor and indispensability. ”  Julia Lawrinson has dignified the art of memoir.’

Howard Norman – US writer, author of Come to the Window

» Read more about Julia Lawrinson

Mark Pardoe

Author

As a child, Mark Pardoe had his sights firmly set on being an internationally famous soccer star who won Formula One races in his spare time.

Perhaps fortunately, these days Mark Pardoe is a part time primary school teacher who writes children’s fiction. Mark’s aim is to both entertain and challenge his readers. His writing employs a distinctive humour that can be read and enjoyed by a wide audience.

» Read more about Mark Pardoe

Gabriel Evans

Author, Illustrator, Online - Virtual Visits

Gabriel Evans is a picture book author and illustrator.

His books have been published in fourteen countries, read on ABC’s Play School and reviewed in the New York Times. They’ve been shortlisted twice in the Children’s Book Council Picture Book of the Year with a further six notable books in the same award.

Gabriel is a dynamic and engaging speaker, giving interactive sessions on the craft of creating picture books. He’s visited educational institutions in major cities and remote regions around Australia.

» Read more about Gabriel Evans