Thursday, March 1, 6:00pm – 9:30pm
Ambrose Treacy College, Twigg St, Indooroopilly QLD 4068
Speed date authors and illustrators, see the latest releases,
buy books from The Book Garden.
Food and drink supplied.
Check out a video from 2017 to see what Romancing the Stars looks like. YouTube Video
Bookings now open via Trybooking.
Lance Balchin
Lance Balchin grew up in the inner Melbourne suburb of Collingwood and now lives in Brisbane. He comes from a background of art, fashion and skateboard photography and has taught adults in these areas for fifteen years. He holds a Masters in Arts and also recently completed a law degree. Having always enjoyed storytelling, Lance draws on literature, history and science in his writing. He started using Photoshop in 1991 and a quarter of a century later has developed a comprehensive understanding of it as a creative tool in both portrait photography and illustration. Although he spends most of his life in front of a computer, he can be seen most weekends wobbling around the Paddington skateboard park with his 12 year old son Frank. https://www.mechanica.com.au/
Mechanica series, Aquatica by Lance Balchin (Five Mile Press, 2017)
Taryn Bashford
Taryn Bashford grew up in England, where she enjoyed English Literature, editing the school magazine for six years and competing in many sports including swimming, track & field, cross country, badminton, basketball and hockey.
She worked in various jobs including au pair, chef, advertising, recruitment, health freelancing and headed up Carlton Television’s Internet Agency.
She emigrated with husband Mark, to Australia where she finally got back to her original ambition of writing. She won Varuna House’s Writing Fellowship in 2013 and the Publishing Introduction Program with Varuna House in conjunction with Scribe Publishing in 2014. Taryn was also awarded a local art’s council grant for promising new artist. Taryn finished the three book Sassy Series (unpublished) before turning to the world of tennis and completing THE HARPER EFFECT. https://www.tarynbashford.com/
The Harper Effect by Taryn Bashford (Pan macmillan, 2017)
Steph Bowe
Steph Bowe is a 24-year-old contemporary YA author whose novels include Girl Saves Boy, All This Could End and Night Swimming. She divides her time between Melbourne and South-East Queensland. She was one of triple j’s inaugural 25 Under 25 and won Express Media’s award for Outstanding Achievement By A Writer Under 25 in 2010. Steph is a Stella Schools Ambassador. http://www.stephbowe.com/
Night Swimming by Steph Bowe (Text Publishing, 2017)
Isobelle Carmody
Isobelle Carmody is a well known Australian author who has written for adults, young adults and children in novels, short stories and picture books and has a host of award winning novels to her credit. Isobelle is currently residing in Brisbane while she is working on a PhD at the University of Queensland.
http://www.isobellecarmody.net/
Blog: http://theslipstream.com.au/
Kingdom of the Lost and Red Queen by Isobelle Carmody (both 2017)
T.M. Clark
Zimbabwean born T.M. Clark combines her passion for storytelling, different cultures and wildlife with her love for the wilder places of the world in her multicultural books. Writing for both adults and children, T.M. Clark lives in Queensland, Australia with her family, and when not plotting to kill people (including her fans – by request) and hiding their bodies (all in the name of literature), you can find her collecting preloved books for the PNG Libraries project, or organising the CYA Conference, helping others on their journey towards publication. www.tmclark.com.au
Slowly Slowly by T. M. Clark (Wombat Books, 2017)
Lachlan Creagh
Lachlan Creagh was born in Townsville. He studied industrial design for several years but changed to computer animation. He worked for three years at a video production company working on TVCs and corporate videos, then twelve years in the computer games industry in Brisbane and did part-time freelance work in his spare time. He worked as a 3D artist, Lead artist, Lead Animator, senior animator/concept artist and, most recently, senior concept designer. In 2008 he made the decision to pursue a full time career as a freelance illustrator, concept designer and animator. He packed his family up and decided on a sea change to northern NSW near Kingscliff for some beautiful sunsets, fresh air and inspiration. He has since illustrated over ten books for children. Lachlan illustrated the Little Mates series of alphabet books for Scholastic, his own wombat series and Dinosaur Rocks. http://www.lach-land.com/
Over is Out by Lachlan Creagh (Hachette, Feb 2018)
Katrin Dreiling
Katrin Dreiling studied languages in Germany to become a teacher, and ended up being an illustrator in Australia. She loves to come up with quirky creations that inspire children to get creative themselves. Katrin illustrated her first pirate book “The World’s Worst Pirate” written by Michelle Worthington and published by Little Pink Dog Books in 2017 and currently works on their second title. Katrin also enjoys writing for children. https://www.katrindreiling.com/
World’s Worst Pirate illustrated by Katrin Dreiling (Little Pink Dog Books, 2017)
Jacqui Halpin
Jacqui Halpin is a former registered nurse, tuckshop convenor, and author. Jacqui is a founding member of Write Links where she manages the junior fiction critique group. Her first picture book titled, Parmesan the Reluctant Racehorse, was published by Little Pink Dog Books in October 2017. Her second picture book, Where’s Lucky?, based on an orphaned swamp wallaby joey at a wildlife shelter, will be published in mid 2019.
Jacqui’s short stories appear in anthologies by Stringybark Publishing and Creative Kids’ Tales. She has also co-written and independently published her elderly father’s memoir, A Long Way from Misery, as she believes in preserving the tales of Australia’s older generations, and because he had a story well worth telling.
Jacqui is now a member of Aleesah Darlison’s Greenleaf Press Talent Team and is available through them for school visits. https://jacquihalpin.com/
Parmesan, the Reluctant Racehorse by Jacqui Halpin (Little Pink Dog Books, 2017)
Kathy Hoopmann
Kathy Hoopmann has written 21 books, published on 4 continents with eight publishers and has work translated into 13 languages. She writes extensively on special needs including Autism Spectrum Disorders, ADHD and Anxiety. Her titles include All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome, All Dogs Have ADHD and All Birds Have Anxiety.
Website: www.kathyhoopmann.com
All birds have anxiety 2017
Lisa the Lacemaker 2017 graphic novel
Shannon Horsfall
Shannon Horsfall is an an author and illustrator based in Australia but living in fairyland. Her head is a mess of stories, pictures and the occasional cake recipe. She love sto draw, doodle, dream, design, imagine, write, dance, sing (badly), scribble, splatter & cook. Although She is not young, she is very much a child. (Or immature, depending on how you look at it.) She has had two picture books ‘Was Not Me!’ (2016) and ‘Nomax!’ (2017) published by Harper Collins. https://www.shannonhorsfall.com/
No Max! 2017
Andrew King
Andrew is an engineer and teacher who is passionate about the role that Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (the STEM subjects) have to play in our sustainable future. Luckily, Benjamin Johnston has similar interests, liked the Engibear concept and agreed to illustrate the Engibear books. Our third book, Engilina’s Trains, is due for release in June 2017.
Children are very interested in the things that engineers do yet there are very few engineers in children’s literature. Consequently, Engibear and his friends Engilina and the Bearbot were created as a “friendly faces” of engineering – a way to introduce engineering to young children.
Engibear’s Dream was awarded the President’s Prize at the 2012 Australian Engineering Excellence Awards. http://engibears.com/
Engilina’s Trains by Andrew King (2017)
Nicholas and Alison Lochel
Nicholas & Alison Lochel are a brother-and-sister writing team from Brisbane and the authors of the best-selling Zarkora series, with over 10,000 copies sold throughout Australia and New Zealand. Their books have been shortlisted for several awards including Speech Pathology Australia’s Book of the Year Awards, and their most recent book, Zarkora – The Mark of the Jackal, upon its release hit #3 on the Dymocks Weekly Children’s Bestseller List. They are currently working on the final book in the Zarkora series and Dorcs, an illustrated book for junior readers.
Lucia Masciullo
Lucia is an award winning children’s book illustrator born and bred in Livorno, Italy. She moved to Australia in 2007 and she now lives and works on the beautiful Gold Coast. Lucia has collaborated with top Australian and English Publishers and illustrated more than twenty books, among which the CBCA Honour Book and Prime Minister Award shortlisted Come Down, Cat!, CBCA shortlisted Family Forest and the 44 books of the best selling series Our Australian Girl. http://luciamasciullo.com/
Enough Apples, by Kim Kane, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo (Hardie Grant, 2017)
James Moloney
Brisbane writer, James Moloney, has published more than fifty books for children and Young Adults. His new action/adventure series, The Young Vikings, will thrill 9 to 12 years olds and in June 2018 his powerful novel, ‘The Love That I Have’ will be released for adults and teens alike. http://www.jamesmoloney.com.au/
Young Vikings by James Moloney (Scholastic, Feb 2018)
Allison Rushby
Allison Rushby, the daughter of an author, was raised on a wholesome and steady diet of classic English literature. Some of her favourite books, re-read countless dog-eared times include Rumer Godden’s The Dolls’ House, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle and Noel Streatfield’s “Shoes” series. She has long been a fan of cities with long, winding histories, wild, overgrown cemeteries, red brick Victorian museums, foxes and ivy. She likes to write with a cup of Darjeeling tea by her side and a Devon Rex cat called Claudia curled up in her lap. http://www.allisonrushby.com
The Turnkey (Walker Books, 2017)
Jane Smith
Jane Smith is a Toowoomba-based author and librarian with a particular interest in Australian history. Her books include the non-fiction ‘Australian bushrangers’ series and the ‘Tommy Bell: bushranger boy’ historical fiction series for children. Her book ‘Captain Thunderbolt’ was shortlisted for an ABIA in 2015, and ‘Shoot-out at the rock’ was included in the CBCA’s list of ‘notables’ in 2017. Find out more about Jane and her books for children and adults at http://www.janesmithauthor.com/
Tommy Bell Bushranger Boy Book 4: Outback Adventure (Big Sky Publishing, 2017)
Anil Tortop
Anil Tortop was born and raised in Turkey. She moved to Australia in early 2011 and has been trying to get used to the local eight-legged house intruders and slithering visitors to her garden ever since. Anil also works as an animator and character/concept designer, but has been called away from this affair as her relationship with children’s books becomes more serious. Nowadays, she lives with her husband in Brisbane. In their small home studio together, they call themselves ‘Children’s Booksmiths’. Meeka by Suzanne Barton came out last year, and Who’s Making That Noise by Heather Neilly comes out early 2018. http://www.aniltortop.com/
Meeka by Suzanne Barton, illustrated by Anil Tortop (September 2017)
Who’s Making That Noise by Heather Neilly illustrated by Anil Tortop (2018)
Samantha Turnbull
Samantha Turnbull is a children’s author, slam poet, and broadcast journalist at the ABC. She wrote the five-book children’s series The Anti-Princess Club (Allen & Unwin, 2015), and a children’s animated TV and audio podcast series due for release with the ABC in March 2018. She is a five-time NSW finalist in the Australian Poetry Slam and particularly enjoys sharing her passion for this growing artform. As well as writing, Sam loves running workshops with kids, and she recently began studying her Masters in Teaching (Primary). http://samanthaturnbull.com.au/
Cruise Control by Samantha Turnbull (Allen & Unwin, 2017)
Paula Weston
Paula Weston is the author of the much-loved Rephaim series and the speculative thriller The Undercurrent. She has more than 20 years’ experience as a professional writer, first as a print journalist and then as a government communication and media specialist. She grew up in regional South Australia and now lives in Brisbane. http://paula-weston.com/
The Undercurrent by Paula Weston (Text Publishing, 2017)
Jenny Woolsey
Jenny Woolsey writes stories and blogs about difference and diversity. She is a primary teacher, trainer, youth worker, and a strong advocate for people living with facial differences, mental illness and disabilities.
Jenny’s writing is influenced by her life. She was born with a rare craniofacial syndrome, has anxiety and depression, and a visual impairment. Her three children have disabilities. Jenny’s heart is for children and teens who struggle with finding their self-identities and way in the world.
Jenny’s published novels are: Ride High Pineapple (2016), Brockwell the Brave (2016), Land of Britannica (2017) and Daniel Barker: By Power or Blight (2018). She also has short stories published in Redemption and Like a Woman anthologies. www.jennywoolsey.com
Ride High Pineapple (2016), Daniel Barker: By Power or Blight (2018)