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Gabrielle Wang
Author, Illustrator
Gabrielle Wang is an author and illustrator born in Melbourne of Chinese heritage. Her maternal great grandfather came to Victoria in 1853 during the Gold Rush. Her father is from Shanghai. Gabrielle’s stories are a diverse blend of eastern and western culture with a touch of fantasy. She has written more than twenty books for young readers, many of them shortlisted for awards, from the Prime Minister’s Award and Queensland Premier’s Award to children’s choice awards such as the Yabba and Koala as well as CBCA Notables. Two of Gabrielle’s books won the Aurealis Award – The Garden of Empress Cassia and A Ghost in My Suitcase which was also adapted to the stage by Barking Gecko Theatre in 2018. Her latest middle grade novel is Zadie Ma and the Dog Who Chased the Moon which was Shortlisted for the 2023 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, 2023 Queensland Literary Awards, 2023 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and was a Notable in the CBCA Book Awards. Gabrielle is the current Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge Ambassador and was the Australian Children’s Laureate in 2022 and 2023.
Where were you born?
I was born in Melbourne and am fourth generation Chinese Australian. In my twenties I decided to go in search of my ‘roots’ as I did not grow up speaking Chinese and knew little about the culture. I lived in Taiwan for five years where I studied Chinese language and brush painting and then moved to Mainland China for two years where I continued my painting studies.
What other jobs have you had?
I was a graphic designer in Melbourne. When I moved overseas, I taught English as a second language. Back in Australia I lectured in Chinese at RMIT for nine years before becoming a full time author.
What themes are recurring in your work?
As I am Chinese Australian, my work is greatly influenced by my experiences growing up between two cultures. Recurring themes are – friendship, family, finding your place in the world, fitting in, and the healing power of art. My stories are often set in the real world but have a touch of fantasy and the supernatural.
What are you passionate about?
I am passionate about creating understanding between cultures. Reading fiction allows children to see the world through someone else’s eyes.
Testimonials
It was definitely a treat for us to host an Australian author/illustrator for a week in our Shanghai Bilingual School as part of Reading Month. Gabrielle gave large group workshops to our Primary and Kindergarten students where she engaged them with personal stories which provided inspiration for her novels. The special treat, relating to her illustrating talents, was the amazing directed drawing of Peng from her novel “The Hidden Monastery”. The students were thrilled to find they could draw almost as well as Gabrielle herself. As a Chinese Australian, she was able to connect with our students and their shared heritage which has featured alongside the themes of family, friendship and a blend of eastern and western culture in her novels. Her small group workshops were tailored to match the audience. Our parent workshop were particularly engrossed in Gabrielle’s life experiences and the way these are woven into her stories. Our top AR readers were treated to a special preview of Gabrielle’s work in progress on Chinese dinosaurs and fables and were able to provide their personal feedback to the text. We felt very proud to share in her delight at seeing her illustrations in a chinese picture book which she hadn’t yet received, and the kindergarten students enjoyed listening to the story. We would recommend Gabrielle to any school worldwide as she is very adaptable and we would be pleased to work with her again in the future.
The girls were so interested hearing Gabrielle speak. She was engaging, interesting, and we all thought she was so, so talented. Was a treat for us to have her.
Just a big thank you to the team at Booked Out who made suggestions for our Book Week visiting authors last week. They were all spot on!
Gabrielle has visited our school for the past three years and run her Chinese watercolour painting session with our year 7s. This complements the text that they study at this year level, Chinese Cinderella. Gabrielle is a true professional with a wonderful instructional manner. She incorporates her Chinese heritage into the workshops beautifully and has the students spellbound. The lovely thing about her sessions is that being able to produce a credible Chinese watercolour at the end of the session is well within the grasp of every student.
I just wanted to thank you again for the wonderful workshops you did with the girls. They were spot on in terms of content and variety and I know were an inspiration to all our aspiring writers and illustrators! Sharing so many of your own personal experiences really connected the writing process to the real world for the girls and they all thoroughly enjoyed your stories and hearing about where you get your inspiration and ideas from. Drawing Peng was also a huge favourite!
Just wanted to say how much we enjoyed our author visits by Gabrielle Wang. Gabrielle was just delightful with our students and I know they really enjoyed the sessions. Gabrielle even created a special session for our boys, focusing on their interests and it was just great. It was really lovely of her to do that.