Aha! If that name sounds familiar it’s possibly because you’ve read The Flywheel, OR you were just next door reading about me reading The Flywheel – which might be an Escher brain stretch too far for a Friday. What you also need to know about Erin is that she won the Hardie Grant Egmont Ampersand Project, doesn’t mind a cupcake (not saying cupcakes are her firm favourite food, mind you,

This lady! Another person I should have crossed paths with before now. We’ve kind of been in the same orbit for a while, though. I remember hearing Amanda speak about her first published novel, The King’s Fool, when I was hoping to one day reach the other side (meaning, get published, not anything grim), and I was really chuffed to see her Young Adult novel, Unwanted, scoring

Sandy Fussell’s gorgeously poignant picture book, Sad, the dog, has just been released (Walker Books, Australia, and Candlewick Press, United States – more details at the end of this post), but you may also know her from her popular Samurai Kids series, along with many other books. What you mightn’t know is that she has written those books through the best of times and the worst of

Okay, so you may have noticed that this post is a little late. That’s because I had to talk to my legal department. This next guest? Trouble. BIG trouble. Lock up your lanyards, that’s all I’ve got to say.  Well, actually, of course I’ve got more to say – I’ve got a reputation as being longwinded to uphold. I first met Alex Tighe at

What I’ve found about writing YA is that at some point you realise you’re part of an ongoing dialogue about YA. When I started to consider things like gender bias, the perception that realist novels are somehow better than fantasy novels, diversity, or the role of YA as viewed from the perspective of readers who are actually young adults, sooner or later I’d find that

Okay, I asked this next guest to do a post for me as a personal favour. Because here’s the thing: I am in awe of her discipline. Shelleyrae reads and reviews around six books a week on her blog, Book’d Out, and has kept up that pace for the last FIVE YEARS. So what could be better than for me to come along and ask

One thing that shines through with Ellie Marney is her ENERGY. The lady’s got it in spades. And she uses her energy for good; she uses it to SHAKE SHITE UP. If you’re not already aware of it, she has been a driving force behind the #LoveOzYA campaign (you can read what Ellie has to say about it here) something I think anyone who loves Australian stories, in

So. Waaay back in May, I had one of the nicest experiences of my writing year thus far when I got to launch Trinity Doyle‘s first novel, Pieces of Sky.  It was a golden night for many reasons: Trinity, herself; Newcastle, itself; the COOLEST venue, which was full of EXCELLENT people; and lots of lovely moments, like when Trin’s young daughter interrupted proceedings because she needed to tell Trin a

One thing I love about the publishing world is that there is no normal. And every writer seems to walk a different path along the way to getting a book published. But that said, I think Fleur Ferris‘s journey might be more unusual than most! It involves a classroom of students in Sweden, and if you haven’t read about it yet, you can check it out here. RISK came

So the next time I’m in Brisbane I’m going to CORNER this lady – she is bloody lovely. Aside from that obvious attraction, I’m hoping some of her writing attributes might rub off on me. She is highly organised, uses time wisely, can juggle many balls, and I wouldn’t mind examining her brain for the component that helps her plot at long range: book FOUR in the Rephaim