Zanni Louise

Author

Author of over 35 books for kids, Zanni Louise inspires young people to fall in love with books, as well as tell and write their own stories.

Too Busy Sleeping
Archie and the Bear
Tiggy and the Magic Paintbrush
Errol
Mum For Sale
Stardust School of Dance
Daring Delly
Human Kind
Paris Takes Over The World
Florence and Fox
Wonder Earth
We Are All People
I Feel the World
Pigasus
This Is Love
Queenie In Seven Moves
Lost Bunny (Monsties Book One)

Where were you born?

I was born in Lismore, NSW.

What other jobs have you had?

My first job was licking the back of envelopes for my dad’s office when I was about 12. When I went to university, I made coffee in fancy Melbourne cafes and later, working in an art gallery. I was manager at Anna Schwartz Gallery in Melbourne for a number of years.

When we moved back to the country, I started doing freelance writing, mainly writing TAFE guidebooks. I wrote about all sorts of things, including how to drive a semi-trailer!

When I began interviewing authors like Mem Fox on my blog, I became more and more interested in children’s books. Eventually, I knew exactly what my dream job was.

What themes are recurring in your work?

I write about all sorts of things. But my books do keep coming back to some of the same ideas. Things like, be creative! Trust your self-expression. I’m also interested in kindness, community and what it means to have a home. 

What have been the highlights of your career?

I have had several career highlights including CBCA long-listings, short-listings for the Australian Book Design Awards, Speech Pathology Awards, and Educational Publishing Awards. My Human-Kind series was Highly Commended in the Australian Educational Publishing Awards. Many of my books have been bestselling, in particular Errol!, Human-Kind and I Feel the World. My books are published in over twenty foreign territories and some have been listed on the Premier’s Reading Challenge and the White Raven’s International Catalogue of Children’s Books. Queenie in Seven Moves was selected for the QLD Readers Cup in 2023, which was very lovely.

Where have your works been published?

My books are published all over the world including Australia, US, Taiwan, China, Romania, Czech, Denmark, The Netherlands, Germany, Korea, Vietnam, Hungary, Spain, Italy and Slovenia. I love seeing my stories in different languages … even if it means I can no longer read them!

I have several Australian publishers: Walker Books, Hardie Grant, Scholastic, Affirm Press and Five Mile.

What are you passionate about?

It sounds corny, but I am very passionate about writing! Not just writing my own stories, also reading other people’s, helping people write stories and interviewing other authors.

I am also a big believer in the power of creativity.

Community and friendship play a big role in my life. As does nature. One of my favourite things to do is run through forests. My favourite run is a sunrise run from Skenners Head to Lennox Head in Northern NSW, along the coast. Often, there are whales jumping!

Haven’t I seen you before?

You’ll find me on Instagram at @zannilouise. My writers group also host a podcast and YouTube channel: 5 Writers 5 Minutes.

But maybe you’ve heard me chat to authors like Andy Griffiths, Sally Rippin and Rebecca Stead on my podcast: The Sunshine House Podcast.

Anything else you’d like to share with us?

You can learn more about me and my little sunshine house at www.zannilouise.com.