From age nine Josie's dream was to be an author and at age 13 she received her first rejection letter from Golden Books. Decades later, she is now an international award winning author of over 60 books.

Kathy Hoopmann has written over twenty books for children and adults, with translations into fourteen languages. Her work sells widely in Australia, the UK, the US and the Middle East.

Kate Forsyth wrote her first novel aged seven & has now sold more than a million books worldwide. She is a direct descendant of Charlotte Waring Atkinson, the author of the first book for children ever published in Australia.

Cecily Anne Paterson grew up overseas, going to boarding school in the Himalayan mountains and spending her holidays in the deserts of Pakistan. She's the author of five books for girls, including the CALEB Prize winner, Charlie Franks is A-OK, and the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semi-finalist, Invisible.

Janet Reid lives in Brisbane with her husband, and has two grown-up sons who have left home but come back often for meals. When she's not writing, she enjoys reading, quilting and catching up with friends for coffee.

Penny Reeve is the Australian author of more than 20 books for children, including the popular Madison and Tania Abbey series. She is passionate about writing stories that both entertain and empower readers to engage with - and respond to - the around them.

South Australian-born Catherine Bauer is a journalist and writer who grew up in suburbs of Adelaide. A loud and proud bookworm, Catherine grew up reading the classics that lined her parents’ well-stocked home library.

At an early age Heidi knew she wanted to write and illustrate picture books. But during a Visual Arts degree, she fell in love with Ceramics and spent the next 20 years covered in clay. Heidi rediscovered her passion for drawing in 2014 when she joined the online ’52-week illustration challenge’.

Kellie Byrnes is a children’s author, full-time freelance writer, and book reviewer. Her debut picture book, The Cloud Conductor, was released by Wombat Books in 2018.

Renée Treml has been fascinated with Australia’s wildlife since arriving here in 2007. Her stories and illustrations are inspired by nature and influenced by her background in environmental science.

Catherine Greer is a Canadian-Australian author of picture books and young adult novels. She holds a BA Honours and a Master’s degree in Literature.

Harrison Craig won The Voice in 2013, but for many years he struggled to find his own voice. He battled with a stutter for most of his younger life, which made everyday conversation very difficult for him. Often the subject of bullying, he turned to his love of singing, which is how the story behind Harrison's Song began.

Emily Larkin is an Australian author who has published fiction in online literary journals, including Seizure, Meniscus, The Zodiac Review and Number Eleven Magazine. Emily spends her free time discussing Horcruxes, iris-cams, and magic cupboards with her family and friends, and having long conversations with her characters.

Georgie Donaghey discovered her love for creative writing at the age of seven. Apart from the colourful tales, she would entertain her classmates and peers with, Georgie entered and won her first competition. Although her hand-written award from the Sun Herald Junior Writing Competition is now faded and the poem she submitted is a distant memory, her passion for writing has developed into an obsession.

She has written several picture books and a few children’s novels waiting to be shared with the world.

Kaye Baillie writes picture books, short stories and chapter books for children and enjoys dabbling with poetry. Her short stories have appeared in the NSW School Magazine, Short Tales 2, Hopscotch anthology and in 2013 she won the Charlotte Duncan Award.

Diane Jackson Hill has previously co-written the music resource series ‘Uke’n Play Ukulele’ and now has several picture books currently in publication. Diane started writing for children when she became a Grandma and started reading bedtime stories again. Annabel's Dance is her first picture book with Wombat Books.

Find out more at https://dianejacksonhill.com.au. 

Deborah Kelly is the author of popular picture books including The Bouncing Ball, Jam for Nana and Dinosaur Disco. She has more picture books due out in 2016 and 2017, including the Chalk Rainbow and Me and You. She also writes short stories for children and material for the educational market.

Cameron Semmens is a poet, entertainer and poetry educator with 15 books to his name. He makes his living through words: performing, running workshops and book design. He lives in the Dandenong Rangers with his wife and two children. He is the author of the witty and wordy book, Star Stable Saviour!

See www.webcameron.com for more info.

Kelly O’Gara is a Central Coast based illustrator and high school Visual Arts teacher. She has a double degree in Bachelor of Design/Art Education from the College of Fine Arts, UNSW and predominantly works with both traditional and contemporary drawing methods. Kelly’s first book, Do You Remember?, and latest book , The Daddy Shop, were both drawn digitally. She is particularly interested in creating new and exciting worlds for children to immerse themselves in. With her teaching background, she emphasises the power and importance of imagery. She believes children’s books play a vital role in a child’s development and help them to make sense of the big, wide world around them.

Anna McNeil was born in Boston, America and currently works and lives in Sydney as a Registered Nurse. She enjoys travelling and plans to spend a year overseas in Europe and America.

From an early age she was always interested in creative writing and excelled in English at school. Despite this she decided to pursue a career in Nursing. She recently completed a Bachelor of Nursing at the University of Sydney and hopes to complete a Diploma in Midwifery in the future.

Australian publisher, Wombat Books has released her first children's book titled Do You Remember co-written and illustrated by Kelly O'Gara. It features a young mouse struggling to understand Dementia and how it has affected a family member.

Rosanne Hawke is an Australian author of over twenty books, among them Shahana, The Messenger Bird the winner of the 2013 Cornish Holyer an Gof award for YA literature, and Taj and the Great Camel Trek.

Renee Bennett is an Australian author whose versatility spreads across many genres.  

Her debut into the world of writing with Broken Wing Butterfly, a non- fiction book for teenage girls, earned her a finalist spot in the prestigious Caleb Prize as well as a TV interview.

Claudia Bouma is a children's book author contributing to the new Australian Girl Series, including Amy and the Wilpena Flood.

Born in 1974 in the Netherlands, now an Australian citizen, Claudia Bouma has always been passionate about writing.

Lynne and Chris have raised five children who are now adults. Lynne’s practical experience comes from the quality time spent with her own children.

Lisa Cox is the author of Does my bum look big in this ad? Body image and the media and Media Muscle.

Lisa spent nearly a decade studying and working in the media and advertising industry.

Aleesah Darlison is an award-winning Australian children’'s author who writes picture books, chapter books and novels. Her much-loved stories promote courage, understanding, anti-bullying, self-belief, friendship, teamwork and environmental themes. 

Jacque Duffy has written and illustrated seven children’s books in a series. These books were sought and purchased by the Queensland State Government and placed into schools and libraries.

Heather Gallagher is a children's writer whose first chapter book Ferret on the Loose was published in 2013. Her stories for children have appeared in black dog books Short & Scary anthology and Explore magazine.

Irma Gold is an award-winning writer and editor. Her short stories have been widely published in anthologies and journals like Meanjin, Island and Going Down Swinging.

Anne Hamilton, a longtime writer and mathematician, has a number of publications to her name including Many-Coloured Realm and Daystar, as well as children's books Nerrilee's World and Terry.

Rose Inserra is an internationally published author of over sixty children's books on topics ranging from library resource books to fiction and picture books. She lives in Melbourne and is passionate about wildlife and taking care of all animals.

Dr Joe is the author of the new gripping fantasy series The Tae'anaryn and The Tae'anaryn and the Wizard's Apprentice.

Dr Joe has been an avid fan of fantasy his whole life, having written award winning fantasy for the Dungeons & Dragons Living Greyhawk campaign. During the day he has worked as a teacher, magician, performer, busker and even lecturer in the philosophy of science. 

Andrew is the author of Birds in Mind: Australian nature poems, Far From Home: poems of faith, grief and gladness, Gestures of Love (Even Before Publishing imprint) and Allsorts: poetry tricks and treats.

Kirrily Lowe is a Mum to Sammy, Harry and Elijah and a pastor together with her husband Tim at the C3 Church City Campus in Darlinghurst, Sydney. She is passionate about filling young lives with great values in a fun and relatable way. The Invisible Tree is her first series of books.

Sharon McGuinness works as a teacher librarian in a primary school on the south coast of New South Wales and writes picture books and junior novels for children. After writing her first ‘book’ in year six for a school assignment, Sharon has been writing ever since.

Training as a Secondary School Art and English Teacher, Dawn soon realised Special Education was her passion.

As one of Australia’s highest-selling independent artists, Lorin has just released his fourth album of instrumental guitar tracks and earlier this year became a published author of an inspirational children’s book titled, The Amazing Bike Ride, published by Wombat books.

Katrina Roe is an author and radio presenter.

She can be heard each weekday on Sydney’s Hope 103.2 radio, where she is the host of Hope Mornings.

Lynne Stringer has been passionate about writing all her life, beginning with short stories in her primary school days.

She began writing professionally as a journalist and was the editor of a small newspaper (later magazine) for seven years, before turning her hand to screenplay writing and novels.

After graduating from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada with a BA in English Literature and History, LD Taylor began a career in marketing for the 3D graphics and animation software industry.

Debra writes stories that speak into children's lives. As a social worker, parent and author she understands the power of narrative to resonate with children and parents alike.

Kerry Townsend, owner and Director of Mothers Toolkit, public speaker, creator of ‘Life Balance Magnets’ and published author of the Mothers Toolkit series including ‘FREE Your Time', ‘Mother's Essential Personal Toolkit' and ‘Mother's Essential Romance Toolkit'.

Robert Vescio loves to read and is a self-confessed hoarder of books, especially children’s books. He enjoys writing stories and sharing his passion with children of all ages.

Although an initial childhood dream was to write and illustrate for children, Kayleen was encouraged to venture into a career of an exhibiting fine artist and later a graphic designer.

Michelle is an author of children’s books, who is also available for workshops on writing for children, book signings and school readings.

Michelle Worthington was born in Brisbane, Queensland and currently works and lives in the Redlands. She enjoys travelling and has spent time studying in France where she lived for a year. 

 Lisa Limbrick lives in NSW with her husband and two children. She enjoys many extreme sports such as knitting and gardening. She has always loved writing and began writing children’s stories several years ago when her family decided to drive across Australia and back. She especially loves writing stories which are full of humour, oddities and everything in between!