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Open Right

Location: Queensland

Tim Baker

Author, Journalist

Tim Baker is Australia’s favourite surfing writer, a former editor of Tracks and Surfing Life magazine, who has written a string of best-selling surfing biographies and collected surf stories. He has twice received the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame Culture Award and been shortlisted for the CUB Australian Sports Writing Awards.

» Read more about Tim Baker

Michael Gerard Bauer

Author

Michael Gerard Bauer is an in-demand speaker and a popular writer for children and young adults. His books have been shortlisted, won numerous awards and are used as class texts in many schools around Australia. He has written drama, comedy and adventure.

» Read more about Michael Gerard Bauer

Isobelle Carmody

Author, Illustrator

Isobelle Carmody is a well known Australian author who has written many novels and short stories for children and adults and has a host of award winning novels to her credit. She began the first of her highly acclaimed Obernewtyn Chronicles while she was still at high school and worked on it while completing a Bachelor of Arts and then a journalism cadetship. Obernewtyn was accepted by the first publisher she sent it to and went on to be shortlisted in the “Older Readers” section of the CBC Book of the Year Award. The series and her short stories have established her at the forefront of fantasy writing in Australia.

She has written many award winning short stories and books since then and she also illustrated The Legend of Little Fur and The Kingdom of the Lost series.

She is now completing the last of her Obernewtyn Chronicles, The Red Queen while undertaking a PhD at the University of Queensland.

Website: www.isobellecarmody.net/
Blog: http://theslipstream.com.au/

» Read more about Isobelle Carmody

Nick Earls

Author, Online - Virtual Visits

Nick Earls is the author of twenty-six books for adults, teenagers and children. Two of his novels have been adapted into feature films, and five have become stage plays. His books have won awards in Australia, the UK and US. He has a PhD in creative writing from the University of Queensland.

» Read more about Nick Earls

Brian Falkner

Author, Online - Virtual Visits

Brian is an award-winning international author and writing coach. He is a highly sought-after speaker in schools around Australia, the US and New Zealand. His infectious enthusiasm, humour and energy make every appearance a popular and memorable one. He is the author of more than thirteen novels for children and young adults, published in fifteen countries in seven languages. His most recent YA novel, Battlesaurus: Rampage at Waterloo has been shortlisted for the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.

» Read more about Brian Falkner

Pat Flynn

Author

An ex professional tennis player and teacher, Pat Flynn writes realistic fiction with a dose of humour for 8-16 year olds. His book The Tuckshop Kid won an Honour Book Prize at the CBCA Book of the Year Awards and his new books include The Trophy Kid and How to Get Dumped.

» Read more about Pat Flynn

Sean Fyfe

Corporate, Education Consultant, Inspirational Speaker, Speaking Out

Sean aims to give parents, teachers and students greater insight and the practical tools to foster health and wellbeing along with academic and sporting achievement.

» Read more about Sean Fyfe

Paula Weston

Author

Paula has worked as a print journalist and government communication specialist, and is now one half of a writer-designer consultancy. She has been writing fiction for many years, finding her niche penning gritty young adult speculative thrillers with an Australian flavour in The Rephaim series and The Undercurrent.

» Read more about Paula Weston

Kim Toft

Author, Illustrator, Storyteller/Performer

Kim Michelle Toft is a full time illustrator and author of environmental children’s books, focusing primarily on coastal and ocean habitats. Her illustrations are all hand painted onto silk, and as part of her presentation she demonstrates her silk painting technique.

Publications currently in print: I Can Swim A Rainbow (Silkim Books), Recipe For Perfect Planet Pie (Silkim Books), Tick Tock Tick Tock What’s Up Croc? (Silkim Books), The Twelve Underwater Days of Christmas (Silkim Books), A Sea of Words (Silkim Books), The World That We Want (UQP), Turtle’s Song (UQP), Neptune’s Nursery (UQP) and One Less Fish (UQP)

» Read more about Kim Toft

Lucia Masciullo

Illustrator

Born and bred in Italy, Lucia moved to Australia in 2007. Since then she has collaborated with major Australian Publishers, illustrating more than twenty books, including Come Down, Cat!, Family Forest and the successful series Our Australian Girl. For these books Lucia has made it on to the CBCA Honour Book list, and she has been shortlisted for the Prime Minister Award.

She now lives on the Gold Coast.

» Read more about Lucia Masciullo

Rebecca Starford

Author

Rebecca is a committed and passionate teacher. She is also an engaging, open and refreshingly candid speaker about her debut memoir, Bad Behaviour, which explores bullying and aggression in an elite private school. Rebecca is currently an editor at Text Publishing, the co-founder and publishing director of Kill Your Darlings cultural magazine. She was also a founding member of the Stella Prize steering committee, a prize dedicated the celebration of Australian women’s writing.

» Read more about Rebecca Starford

Cori Brooke

Author, Inspirational Speaker

Cori Brooke is a Canadian-Australian Children’s Book Council of Australia shortlisted children’s picture book author (All I Want for Christmas is Rain), public servant and Mom. Cori loves to share her books, book-related artifacts and books she loves with kids and adults. She loves talking about her writing process, and the process of writing generally, in a fun, accessible and kid-friendly way. Having just learned to juggle (literally, but also a metaphor for her life) Cori might incorporate that into her visits soon!

» Read more about Cori Brooke

Sandhya Parappukkaran

Author

Sandhya Parappukkaran is a picture book author who loves to share stories and her culture. She’ll bring a bundle of saris to unravel and wear. She talks about writing own voices stories, plays games to unlock creativity and move your story forward, and shares craft activities based on her books.

» Read more about Sandhya Parappukkaran

Remy Lai

Author, Illustrator

Remy is an author and illustrator. She enjoys doing draw-alongs in her sessions, and she particularly loves playing drawing games with the students.

» Read more about Remy Lai

Charlotte Barkla

Author

Charlotte Barkla is a Brisbane-based author and teacher. Her books include Let’s Try Again Another Day, the 11 Ruby Road historical fiction series, All Bodies are Good Bodies, the Edie’s Experiments series and From My Head to My Toes, I Say What Goes. She has a further four children’s books due to be published in 2025.

Charlotte’s books have been translated in multiple languages and short-listed for awards, including the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards and the Wilderness Society’s Environment Award for Children’s Literature.

As well as writing for children, Charlotte has also written feature articles for publications including AEU News, Create Digital, Beanz Magazine and Double Helix. She regularly visits schools, libraries and festivals for creative writing workshops, sharing her passion for creativity and stories with children of all ages.

» Read more about Charlotte Barkla

Anton Clifford-Motopi

Author

Anton writes funny stories for children that explore themes of identity, race, belonging, family relationships and friendship. His stories draw on his experiences of growing up in a large adoptive family, discovering his Black African father and white Australian mother, and raising four children.

» Read more about Anton Clifford-Motopi

Melanie Saward

Author

Melanie Saward is a proud Bigambul and Wakka Wakka woman based in Tulmur (Ipswich), Queensland, a city west of Brisbane. An experienced university lecturer, Melanie loves to talk about her books and writing, and run practical writing workshops.

» Read more about Melanie Saward

Victoria Carless

Author, Playwright

Victoria is an author and playwright with a special interest in writing and teaching magic realism. She has written books for middle grade and young adult readers, and her workshops and talks are suitable for upper primary and secondary school students.

» Read more about Victoria Carless