New book for Katrina Germein

Congratulations to Katrina Germein on the publication of

My Dad Thinks He’s Super Funny

a hardback junior to middle primary picture book illustrated by Tom Jellett and published by Walker Books.

The highly anticipated latest hilarious addition to the best-selling 'My Dad Thinks He's Funny' series.
When someone rolls their eyes at Dad, he just rolls them back.
My dad thinks he's super funny.

This book is dedicated to the other members of Katrina's SCBWI critique group who helped with the initial draft - Victoria M, Anne M, Katrina M, Lynne H, Nicole G and Reena B.

A launch will be held at the Salisbury Writers Festival (SA), Saturday, August 28. All welcome! Keep an eye on Katrina's Facebook page for details.

A super new book!

SCBWI Success Story - Katrin Dreiling

Anton’s story or at least its basic idea started to take shape many years ago when my son still was in primary school. He came home one afternoon in a complete pile of despair because apparently his homework wasn’t completed the way his teacher had expected. I tried to make my son see how beautiful his wonky letters actually looked. It did not help in that moment but this is how Anton was born.

As an illustrator, my first approach to story writing is always visually. I sketch, create characters, backgrounds, textures and landscapes before I even write one word. The character design for Anton quickly found a lot of supporters on my social media which encouraged me to keep going and to write the story out. Many editions, book dummies and countless suggestions from experienced and valued writers later I decided to include Anton in my printed portfolio that I wanted to present at the SCBWI Sydney conference portfolio showcase in 2019. For the prints of this portfolio I saw two wonderful local printmakers who helped me design and put together a gorgeous portfolio. Their work and experience made a big difference in how my portfolio was perceived.

To make a long story short, I was lucky enough to win the Harper Collins portfolio award at this conference then and the spotlight was on me just long enough for my agent Essie White, who was also present at the conference, to notice my work. She asked me right there and then if I would like to join Storm Literary Agency which I happily agreed to – I haven’t looked back since.

Most of the conference from that point on is mainly a happy blur for me – I mostly remember the overwhelmingly warm support from all my SCBWI peeps – but it still ended in another highlight. When I waited for my plane back to Brisbane and checked my emails I found a message from Rebecca Young at Scholastic asking if I was interested in working with them.

Thanks to my agent Essie this offer turned into a contract for my first ever author/illustrator project – you guessed it, A PERFECT PIG, Anton’s story.

Another request by Page Street Kids just followed a couple of weeks later and I illustrated an inky, spooky, cute Halloween story for them, IF YOU EVER MEET A SKELETON.

With my story I hope to encourage other writers and illustrators not only to recognise how long the journey to a published project can be but that you should never give up and to keep your ‘eyes on the prize’. Share this journey with like-minded creatives who support you but also tell you honestly where it’s at – and always strive to do the same for them.

When you are lucky enough to have all this in place the journey truly becomes the destination.

New book for Ashling Kwok

Congratulations to Ashling Kwok on the upcoming publication of

Where’s my Dinosaur?

a picture book for 3-6 year olds illustrated by Jasmine Berry and published by Yellow Brick Books.

A new playmate's on the way! Could it be a puppy? A rabbit? An elephant? Maybe it's a dinosaur? I mean, everyone LOVES dinosaurs, right? Follow this fun adventure to find out if one little girl's dream finally comes true.