Lian Tanner

Where were you born?

I was born in northern Tasmania, the youngest child of a youngest child of a youngest child, which pretty much guarantees there’s going to be some magic in my life.

What other jobs have you had?

I’ve worked as a teacher, a tourist bus driver, a juggler and a professional actor. I’ve been dynamited while scuba diving and arrested while busking. I once spent a week in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, hunting for a Japanese soldier left over from the Second World War. It took me a while to realise that this was all preparation for being a writer.

What themes are recurring in your work?

The power of friendship, the importance of kindness and courage, the need to be true to yourself.

What have been the highlights of your career?

Seeing the gorgeous illustrations Jonathan Bentley did for our picture book Ella and the Ocean, which went on to win the NSW Premier’s Literary Award and the Tasmanian Literary Award.

Winning the Davitt Award for Best Australian Children’s Crime Novel for my first detective novel, A Clue for Clara.

Speaking about my books to an audience of teachers, librarians and booksellers in a New York restaurant, and thinking about how proud my mum would be.

Getting fanmail from a teenager who’d been in foster care all her life, and who used to shut herself in her room and reread Museum of Thieves whenever things got too bad. (This is the one that touched my heart the most.)

Where have your works been published?

My books have been published in Australia & New Zealand, India, the USA, Germany, Indonesia, Brazil, Spain, Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Hong Kong and mainland China.

What are you passionate about?

I’m passionate about kindness, imagination, reading and writing, taking care of the natural world, and treating other species with respect.