2012 SCBWI Australia & New Zealand Conference
The International SCBWI ANZ Conference brings Jill Corcoran from the Herman Agency New York, Australian publishers, editors, authors, illustrators and industry professionals together to meet, share news, craft, marketing, e-news and celebrate the community of children's writing and illustrating across Australia and New Zealand.
Susanne Gervay
Conference Convenor
2012 Faculty & Presenters—Publishers, Editors & Agents
Lisa Berryman
Lisa Berryman
Lisa has been the children's publisher at HarperCollins Publishers Australia for twelve years and in her long publishing career she has worked for a number of different publishing houses including Reed Books Australia where she was children's publisher. Lisa has also worked in children's television at the Australian Children's Television Foundation and taught Editing and Publishing at RMIT in Melbourne.
Lisa commissions the HarperCollins children's list, which is comprised of titles ranging from picture books to young adult. Lisa publishes a number of best-selling Australian authors and illustrators including Alexandra Adornetto, Duncan Ball, Rod Clement, Jackie French, Susanne Gervay, Alison Goodman, Nette Hilton, Pamela Rushby, Fiona McIntosh, James Moloney and Bruce Whatley, plus UK author, Anna Perera and US authors Claudia Gray and Michael Spradlin and Canadian author, Arthur Slade.
Brian Cook
Brian Cook
Brian who has been in publishing for over four decades. Brian Cook has worked closely with writers and illustrators to help them develop their ideas from nascence to publication, and has promoted and represented the work of Australian authors to publishers locally and around the world. Brian has held senior publishing industry positions in adult and children's publishing, fiction and non-fiction. Since the mid-1990s he has managed his own (separate) manuscript assessment and literary agency businesses. His experience in intellectual property development, in contract negotiation, in publishing and editorial, in sales and marketing, and in buying and selling rights around the world, has enabled him to launch and guide the careers of hundreds of writers over the years.
Brian brings a profound understanding of both the traditional world of international commercial book publishing and the new world of fast-multiplying digital opportunities.
Jill Corcoran
Jill Corcoran
Jill is a USA Literary agent, author and poet with Herman Agency New York representing Picture Books, Chapter Book, Middle Grade and Young Adult authors. The Herman Agency also represents illustrators. She has an English degree from Stanford University and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from The University of Chicago and also has her own marketing company working on projects for Leo Burnett Advertising, Mattel, LA Gear.
Laura Harris
Laura Harris
Laura Harris is the Publishing Director, Children's Books at Penguin Australia. She has been with Penguin Books for thirteen years and did think she'd be an archaeologist by now, but making books has been quite an adventure too. She has worked with Morris Gleitzman, Melina Marchetta and Mem Fox, to name but a few and feels fortunate to have bought a book called Diary of a Wimpy Kid a few years back. She was born and bred in Sydney but also spent a few years living in a small Greek village that had only 1000 people but eight discos! Though surrounded by creative, talented people in her work, she has checked with her doctor who assured her, she doesn't have a novel in her!
Chris Kunz
Chris Kunz
Chris is an Associate Publisher of Children's and YA Books at Random House Australia. She has created the Bindi Wildlife Adventures series and the RSPCA Animal Tales series as well as looking after some wonderfully talented Random House authors including Jacqueline Harvey, R.A. Spratt and Martin Chatterton. Before books took over her life, Chris script-edited and wrote for children's television, working with the BBC, Southern Star and Wark Clements. She has a Masters Degree in Theatre Studies.
Jeanmarie Morosin
Jeanmarie Morosin
Jeanmarie commissions for Children's Books at Random House Australia, where she acquires picture books and non-fiction titles. Before joining Random House, Jeanmarie was Executive Editor at Penguin Books for Children and Young Adults. Jeanmarie has also worked at Harper Collins Children's Books in New York, ABC Books for Children and Allen & Unwin.
Sandra Morris
Sandra Morris
After graduating in 1975 with a BFA from Elam School of Fine Arts, Sandra Morris worked as an art editor and illustrator on the School Journals and Maori language journals for School Publications in Wellington for four years. She gained her MFA at Elam in 1990 where she completed her first picture book One Lonely Kakapo - this won her the Russell Clark award for illustration in 1992. Her latest book Sensational Survivors was published by Walker Books in October 2010 and was a finalist in the 2011 NZ Post Childrens Book Awards and the 2011 LIANZA awards.
Sandra worked as a designer for Shortland Publications where she was responsible for the design of early reading books and for recruiting and encouraging new illustrators. Sandra started up her own illustration agency promoting NZ illustrators locally and overseas - she now has over 40 illustrators in her team - some of them award winners.
Tegan Morrison
Tegan Morrison
Tegan Morrison is the Children's Publisher for ABC Books and previously the Children's Publisher for Hachette. She has worked on a broad range of innovative and exciting books for children. She has published the delightful CBCA short listed 'Rudie Nudie' by Emma Quay, 'Fearless' and 'Fearless in Love' by Colin Thompson and Sarah Davis. She has also published acclaimed books including Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta, Coraline by Neil Gaiman and Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers.
Benython Oldfield
Benython Oldfield
Benython is a literary agent representing a distinctive array of Australian, American, British, and Chinese authors from their Sydney and Brussels offices. 'China' stories have been their recent focus. They are just entering the English language children's and YA market. "Jasper Jones" has been Zeitgeist's breakout book. Setting them apart from other agencies, the Zeitgeist media department generates unsurpassed media exposure for their authors.
Frances Plumpton
Frances Plumpton
Frances has long been an ardent advocate for New Zealand's children's literature. After a long career as a children's librarian in West Auckland, New Zealand she is now responsible for the children's client list of Richards Literary Agency. She has judged and convened both the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards and the LIANZA (Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa) Children's Book Awards. She is a founding member, and now trustee, of Storylines Children's Literature Charitable Trust of New Zealand. Frances is the NZ ARA for the SCBWI Australia and New Zealand chapter.
Karen Tayleur
Karen Tayleur
Karen Tayleur has had a varied career from bank teller to Christmas present wrapper, nurse's aide, desktop publisher and teacher… and other things in between. In the 1980s, straight out of school, she co-published a short story magazine for five years called Brave New Word. Later, after a stint as managing editor in a performing arts magazine, she discovered a life-long passion for children's publishing at black dog books. Karen is now the commissioning editor for The Five Mile Press in Melbourne. In her spare time she also writes books for children and young adults.
Sarah Foster
Sarah Foster
Sarah Foster is Managing Director and Publisher of Walker Books Australia and is on the Group Board of Walker Books. She has been in publishing since 1984 and, following three years as Walker's export manager in the UK, she emigrated to Australia in 1989 to work with Scholastic. In 1993 she established Walker Books Australia; in 1999 she set up the New Zealand subsidiary and in 2007 started the local publishing list which has grown to nearly 40 books a year and has never had so much fun!
Zoe Walton
Zoe Walton
Zoe is Publisher of Children's and YA Books at Random House Australia. She is the publisher and editor of John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice and Brotherband series, which have now sold over five million books worldwide and have been on the New York Times bestseller charts for more than 60 weeks. She is proud to publish plenty of Australia's top children's and YA authors, including Deborah Abela, Belinda Murrell, Colin Thompson, Michael Pryor, J.C. Burke, Marianne Musgrove, Sophie Masson and Michelle Cooper.
Sue Whiting
Sue Whiting
Sue started her working life as a primary school teacher with a special interest in literacy education and children's literature. In 2005 Sue left teaching to pursue a career in children's book publishing and now works as a children's Managing editor for Walker Books. She is also a successful children's author who has written more than 60 books, including picture books, chapter books and novels for teens including CBCA Notable Award winner 'Get A Grip Cooper Jones'.
2012 Faculty & Presenters—Authors
Deborah Abela
Deborah Abela
After a seven year career producing and writing Children's TV, has written novels about spies, ghosts, soccer legends and characters good with swords who take on sea monsters and evil harbour lords. She is the author of the Max Remy Superspy series, Jasper Zammit (Soccer Legend) series, The Remarkable Secret Of Aurelie Bonhoffen and Grimsdon, about a flooded city, a group of lost children and flying machines. Her latest series, Ghost Club, is about two 11-year-olds who deal with pesky poltergeists and paranormal pests. Deb's won awards for her books, her latest being a USBBY Outstanding International Book Award in the USA. She is a very chuffed ambassador for the National Year of Reading and Room to Read.
Wendy Blaxland
Wendy Blaxland
Wendy Blaxland has published over a hundred books and twenty of her plays have been produced, mostly for children. Wendy writes fiction and non-fiction, particularly in the field of early literacy, as well as poetry and scripts. Her publishers include Penguin, Cambridge University Press, Macmillan Education Australia and Walker Books. Wendy's Penguin Nibble The Princess and the Unicorn has been adapted for BBC2 television. Her plays include original scripts and adaptations of traditional tales and children's classics, performed by Marian Street Theatre for Young People, Killara. Wendy loves the challenge, rigour and joy of writing clearly, accurately and elegantly for that vital, joyous, honest audience: children.
Chris Cheng
Christopher Cheng
Christopher is co-Regional Advisor - Australia and New Zealand. His books cover a number of genres; picture books (One child, with Steven Woolman); information books (The Eyespy Book of Party Animals); short stories (Zoo You Later, with Kerry Millard) and historical fiction with New Gold Mountain, (My Australian Story Series). His new picture book, illustrated by award winning Sarah Davis 'Sounds Spooky' (Random House) has already received great acclaim. Chris has also been a classroom teacher, Education Officer at Taronga Zoo, Children's Development manager for the Dymocks chain and Education Adviser at Purdue University (Indiana USA) developing Internet and CDROM education programs.
A passionate advocate for children's literature as well as the writers and illustrators of children's books, Christopher was also the federal government Ambassador for National Literacy and Numeracy Week for four years and national Ambassador for the National Year of Reading 2012.
Sheryl Clark
Sheryl Clark
Sheryl's first children's book, The Too-Tight Tutu, was published in 1997, and she now has more than 46 published books. Her other titles include a number of Aussie Bites, Nibbles and Chomps, and novels. Her YA novels are Bone Song, published in the UK in 2009, and Dying to Tell Me (KaneMiller US 2011).
Sherryl's verse novel Farm Kid won the 2005 NSW Premier's Literary Award for children's books, and her second verse novel, Sixth Grade Style Queen (Not!) was an Honour Book in the 2008 CBCA Awards. Other recent titles include a picture book of poems, Now I Am Bigger, Pirate X and the Rose series (Our Australian Girl). Her books have been published in Australia and overseas.
Sherryl teaches creative writing at Victoria University TAFE.
Meredith Costain
Meredith Costain
Meredith Costain is a versatile writer whose work ranges from picture books through to 'tween' fiction and narrative non‐fiction. Her books include Bed Tails, the Year in Girl Hell series and Musical Harriet, which was adapted for television by the ABC. Doodledum Dancing, illustrated by Pamela Allen, was an Honour Book in the CBCA awards. Meredith lives in inner-city Melbourne with a menagerie of pets who frequently wrangle their way into her stories. Her latest books Everything to Lose and Catch Me If I Fall are novelisations of the ABC TV series Dance Academy.
Laurine Croasdale
Laurine Croasdale
Laurine has written fiction and non-fiction for major publishers including: Penguin, Pan Macmillan, and ABC Books. She has reviewed books for ABC Radio and worked in publishing as an editor and consultant. Laurine was on the writing team that won a gold Logie for the kids' TV show, Hi5. Her book, Red Golf Balls, about the Sydney bushfires, received a CBCA Notable Book in 1999 and her latest books, Surf School and Surf Sisters focus on strong, positive friendships between girls with the increasingly popular surf culture as a backdrop. Her latest book is iHarry, (Penguin Books).
Hazel Edwards
Hazel Edwards
Hazel writes quirky, thought-provoking fiction and fact for adults and children, and has her own e-bookstore.
There's a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake, was filmed recently. A doco is being made of reactions to, f2m:the boy within, a coming-of-age YA novel about transitioning gender. Hazel runs book linked workshops on 'Authorpreneurship' and 'Writing a Non Boring Family History'. A director of ASA and 2012 National Reading Ambassador, Hazel recently updated her business card from writer to 'Authorpreneur'. Hazel has two grandsons for whom she writes a story each birthday.
Corinne Fenton
Corinne Fenton
Corinne is the author of more than 20 books for children. Her classic picture book 'Queenie: One Elephant's Story' illustrated by Peter Gouldthorpe and published by Black Dog Books, was named an Honour Book in the 2007 CBCA Book of the Year Awards.
Her picture book, 'The Dog on the Tuckerbox' was shortlisted in the 2009 Australian Book Industry Awards, as one of 5 books in the Book of the Year for Younger Children category. It was also shortlisted in the Australian Publishers Association Awrds and was named a Notable Book in two categories of the 2009 CBCA Book of the Year Awards.
'Flame Stands Waiting' was released on March 1, 2010 and received wonderful reviews. 'Queenie:One Elephant's Story' was launched in paperback at the Melbourne Zoo, on 22nd January 2012 and received radio, newspaper and also television coverage on the channel 9 News. Her next picture book will be released in October 2012 in Australia and Queenie will be published in the USA in March 2013.
Corinne is also the Assistant Regional Adviser (Vic) of the SCBWI in Australia.
Katrina Germein
Katrina Germein
Katrina is a picture book author who writes stories that delight readers of all ages. Her first book, Big Rain Coming, is an Australian best seller and remains in print around the world more than a decade since its release. Katrina has won Notable Book Commendations from the Children's Book Council of Australia and in 2011 her book My Dad Thinks He's Funny was Highly Commended in the Prime Minister's Literary Awards. Katrina's latest story, Somebody's House, will be published by Walker Books Australia in 2013. Aside from writing, sunshine makes Katrina happy and so does swimming in the sea with her three children.
Susanne Gervay
Susanne Gervay
Susanne Gervay OAM, SCBWI Conference convenor and co RA SCBWI Australia & New Zealand, is recognised for her writing on social justice, Susanne Gervay's books are endorsed by The Alannah & Madeline Foundation, Cancer Council, Room to Read, The Children's Hospital Westmead and others. Her bestselling 'I Am Jack' is becoming a classic on school bullying, while ' That's Why I Wrote This Song' with music and lyrics by her daughter, Tory, reaches into youth Her picture book 'Ships in the Field' gives a voice to the children of refugees finding home.
An author ambassador for Room to Read; patron of Monkey Baa Theatre; Role model for Books in Homes; Chair of the Board of the NSW Writers Centre; Australia Day Ambassador, Ambassador for the National Year of Reading 2012, Susanne is committed to literacy and the community of children's writers and illustrators.
Maria Gill
Maria Gill
Maria writes fulltime from her lifestyle property in North Auckland, New Zealand. She has had 10 children's books published for the retail market and another 18 educational books for the international market. Maria specialises in children's non-fiction books often with an environmental theme. Two of her books were shortlisted for two children's book awards, two have been Storylines Notable Books and another two have been nominated for the 2012 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards. In the past, she was a Primary School teacher and she has also trained as a journalist. Maria coordinates Kiwi Write4Kidz a nationwide writers' group, and organises publicity events to enable authors to promote their books. She is a great believer in encouraging readers to buy local books (including Australian) and for students to use books when researching for projects.
Libby Gleeson
Libby Gleeson
Libby Glesson AM has been a published writer of picture books and longer fiction for almost thirty years. Her work has been shortlisted for or has won almost every major literary award for work for young people in this country and she has been widely published overseas. Libby chaired the Australian Society of Authors for three years and represents writers as a director of the Copyright Agency Limited. She is chair of the advisory group running WestWords, the Western Sydney Children and Youth Literature Project.
Libby is an adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Sydney. In 2007 she received a Member of the Order of Australia Award for services to literature and literacy education.
Mark Greenwood
Mark Greenwood
Mark's recent books aim to encourage an appreciation of Australia's history. The Legend of Moondyne Joe andThe Legend of Lasseter's Reef have won the WA Premier's Children's Book Award. Simpson and His Donkey, was a CBC Honor Book in 2009. Ned Kelly and the Green Sash was recent winner of the Hoffman Award.
In 2012 Mark will celebrate the release of "The Greatest Liar on Earth" - Walker Books, and "The Drummer Boy of John John" - Lee & Low USA. Mark's early books, Magic Boomerang, Outback Adventure and Our Big Island, were prompted an interest in multicultural literature.
Sheryl Gwyther
Sheryl Gwyther
Sheryl is part of the management team of SCBWI Queensland and contributes widely to the community of children's writers and illustrators. She writes for young people and has a passion for reading, painting, printmaking and photography. She is widely published in anthologies and she writes for educational and trade publishers. Her books include 'Secrets of Eromanga' (Lothian Books), Princess Clown (Blake Publication),Charlie & the Red Hot Chilli Pepper (Pearson Aust.).
She has been awarded two Australian Society of Authors Mentorships, a May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust Residential Fellowship and an Arts Qld Individual Professional Development Grant.
Catriona Hoy
Catriona Hoy
Daddies to dinosaurs, mummies to monotremes... Catriona Hoy's books range from fun and anarchic tales of family life to books with challenging concepts. A children's author and secondary science teacher, her books have been published both in Australia and overseas. Catriona's first picture book, My Grandad Marches on Anzac Day (Lothian), has become an iconic Australian classic and has found a place in the hearts of many families of service men and women. She has been listed twice on the CBC (Australia) notables list-: The Music Tree (Lothian)2007 and Puggle (Working Title Press) 2011. Catriona reviews children's books in terms of their primary science applications.
Prue Mason
Prue Mason
Prue is a member of the management team for SCBWI Queensland. In an earlier life Prue Mason worked as a flight attendant and co-pilot on a private business jet with her husband, a professional pilot. They lived in Canada for three years and then the Middle East for twelve years before returning to Australia. In 2005 Prue won the Queensland Premier's award for her best selling novel Camel Rider. She is currently working on a fourth book based on her Middle Eastern experiences.
Her latest book, Birdie in the Sky is part of the popular Chomps series. She has recently been commissioned to write for a new horror series published by Penguin Books.
Jeni Mawter
Jeni Mawter
Jeni is the author of the hilarious 'So' series: So Gross!, So Feral!, So Sick!, So Festy!, So Grotty! and So Stinky! as well as the Freewheelers series: Unleashed!, Launched! and Extreme! (HarperCollins). She has also published non-fiction, poetry, verse narrative, songs and scripts. She has just written an eBook 'transmedia' young adult novel, KISS KILL. Published as an eBook by Really Blue Books, this novel is innovative and interactive and combines scripts, songs, notes, poems, comics, essays, texting and photos.
Meg McKinlay
Meg McKinlay
Meg McKinlay is a West Australian poet and children's writer who has published work ranging from picture books through to junior fiction. Her work has been shortlisted for an number of awards, including the 2008 WA Premier's Book Awards and the 2010 CBC Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers. Meg has also published poetry and short fiction for adults and is an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Western Australia, where she has taught Australian Literature, Creative Writing, and Japanese. Her most recent publications are a junior novel, Surface Tension, and a picture book, No Bears.
Belinda Murrell
Belinda Murrell
Belinda is a bestselling children's author currently writing her twelfth book, which range from four picture books for pre-schoolers, to junior fiction. These include the fantasy-adventure series for boys and girls aged 8 to 12 called, The Sun Sword Trilogy (The Quest for the Sun Gem, The Voyage of the Owl and The Snowy Tower). Her time-slip series includes The Locket of Dreams, The Ruby Talisman and The Ivory Rose. Belinda's new book, The Forgotten Pearl is an exhilarating wartime adventure set in Darwin and Sydney. Belinda's books have been shortlisted for various awards and selected for the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge.
Sally Murphy
Sally Murphy
Sally Murphy lives a double life. Most of the time she's a busy mother of six, beach comber, teacher and avid reader. But when no one at home is looking she morphs (Murphs?) into an author and writes verse novels, picture books and more. Her verse novels have won some awards and stuff and her picture books mostly make kids laugh. Her newest book is a historical picture book, Do Not Forget Australia, about a wonderful friendship between France and Australia which has lasted nearly 100 years. Sally also runs review siteaussiereviews.com.
Pamela Rushby
Pamela Rushby
Pamela has written children's books and television scripts; hundreds of radio and TV commercials; documentaries on Queensland dinosaurs, Australian ecosystems, bilbies, the Crown of Thorns starfish and buried Chinese terracotta warriors; short stories; and freelance journalism. She has won several awards, including a Literature Board of the Australia Council grant to work on archaeological excavations in Egypt and Jordan; a Churchill Fellowship to study educational television in Canada; the Ethel Turner Prize in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards; and a bag of gold coins at a film festival in Iran. She is passionately interested in children's books and television, ancient history and Middle Eastern food.
Claire Saxby
Claire Saxby
Claire is a writer of fiction, non fiction and poetry for children. She has more than 35 books in print with more in production. Her poetry appears in magazines, anthologies, on train walls and in museum resources. Claire's most recent picture books are SCBWI Crystal Kite Award winner 'There Was an Old Sailor', a nautical take on an old rhyme, illustrated by Cassandra Allen (Walker Books), and 'Carrum Sailing Club', a visit to the beach, illustrated by Christina Booth (Windy Hollow Books). Other titles include 'Sheep, Goat and the Creaking Gate' illustrated by Judith Rossell (WHB) and 'Snow Play' a Go Girls chapter book (HGE).
Dianne Wolfer
Dianne Wolfer
Dianne has written 12 books for teenagers and younger readers with 3 more titles in production. Her latest title, Lighthouse Girl, explores the true story of a girl signalling to soldiers as they left for WW1. Lighthouse Girl won the 2010 West Australian Young Readers' Book Awards, was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's History awards, the WA Premier's Awards, the Crichton Award and was a CBCA Notable Book. Dianne's previous picture book, Photographs in the Mud, set along the Kokoda Track, is used as an international peace reference and published in Japanese. Both titles are resources for the new National History Curriculum. Dianne is WA Advisor for SCBWI. Her next title is a picture book about surfing grannies.
Sue Whiting
Sue Whiting
Sue started her working life as a primary school teacher with a special interest in literacy education and children's literature. In 2005 Sue left teaching to pursue a career in children's book publishing and now works as a children's Managing editor for Walker Books. She is also a successful children's author who has written more than 60 books, including picture books, chapter books and novels for teens including CBCA Notable Award winner 'Get A Grip Cooper Jones'.
2012 Faculty & Presenters—Illustrators
Sarah Davis
Sarah Davis
Sarah is a multi-award winning illustrator Sarah Davis was awarded the CBCA's 2009 Crichton Award for her first picture book Mending Lucille, by J.R. Poulter (Lothian/Hachette Livre). Her books include Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy by Sue Whiting (New Frontier), Fearless and Fearless in Love, by Colin Thompson (ABC Books/Harper Collins); The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate by Joy Cowley (Gecko Press, NZ); Marmaduke Duck and the Marmalade Jam and Sounds Spooky by Chris Cheng. Sarah is an acclaimed illustrator and workshop leader with diverse use of mediums and styles.
Frané Lessac
Frané Lessac
Frané is an award-winning author, illustrator and artist with over thirty-five award winning children's books published throughout the world. She has exhibited her work in London, Paris, Sydney, Perth, New York, Los Angeles, and the West Indies. Frané is an Ambassador for the National Year of Reading 2012 and Illustrator Coordinator for SCBWI Australia and New Zealand.
Awarded The Muriel Barwell Award for Distinguished Service to Children's Literature, she is a member of the Children's Book Council of West Australia and the International Board on Books for Young People. Her award winning children's picture books, include My Little Island a Children's Book of the Year by the Library of Congress and Simpson and His Donkey an Honour Book in the Children's Book Council's Book of the Year Awards. Her contribution to Amnesty International's We Are All Born Free celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been translated into more than 30 languages and a USBBY Outstanding International Book.
Sandra Morris
Sandra Morris
After graduating in 1975 with a BFA from Elam School of Fine Arts, Sandra Morris worked as an art editor and illustrator on the School Journals and Maori language journals for School Publications in Wellington for four years. She gained her MFA at Elam in 1990 where she completed her first picture book One Lonely Kakapo - this won her the Russell Clark award for illustration in 1992. Her latest book Sensational Survivors was published by Walker Books in October 2010 and was a finalist in the 2011 NZ Post Childrens Book Awards and the 2011 LIANZA awards.
Sandra worked as a designer for Shortland Publications where she was responsible for the design of early reading books and for recruiting and encouraging new illustrators. Sandra started up her own illustration agency promoting NZ illustrators locally and overseas - she now has over 40 illustrators in her team - some of them award winners.
Nina Rycroft
Nina Rycroft
Nina had her first book, Little Platypus (Nette Hilton, 2000), published receiving a CBCA Notable Book in 2001. Since then, Nina has illustrated number of books, including the award-winning picture book and stage production, Boom Bah! (Phil Cummings, 2007), No More Kisses (Margaret Wild, 2009) and Ballroom Bonanza (Nina Rycroft, 2010) - a story inspired by her children's great grandfather. This year, Nina is celebrating her latest release, Pooka by Carol Chataway, while illustrating a Jackie French picture book for Harper Collins. For more information about Nina and her books.
Lesley Vamos
Lesley Vamos
Lesley is on the illustrator committee for SCBWI ANZ and designed the logo for the 2012 International SCBWI ANZ Conference. She studied at the college of Fine Arts, receiving a Distinction and animation honor in their Bachelor of Digital media. She spent the next year in LA getting experience and is now working as a Freelance illustrator and graphic designer, spending time both in Australia and abroad to help inspire her creativity.