Children’s Authors

Children's Author

Maura is an award-winning Canberra-based author, playwright and filmmaker who creates across art forms for children and adults. Her latest Picture Storybook,  Alphabetter,  published in 2024 by Affirm Press, is an A to Z of Building Character. It showcases character traits in a positive sense as ways to be, gently supporting the element of agency and choice and active learning. By using real life examples the book presents easy to understand concepts in a holistic manner that helps children explore who they are, and who they would like to be, in a safe and supportive manner. This book is a unique and timely resource that makes character-building a fun, accessible and rewarding exercise at home, in the classroom and in life. It's a great stepping stone to ethical understanding and deliberation. Maura is working on a new picture storybook text to be published by Scholastic in 2026.

Maura's acclaimed play, Fragments, has been adapted as a hybrid young adult fiction novel and award-winning web series, and is also a feature-length film that toured festivals in Australia and overseas. Maura has a Ph.D. in philosophy and has worked as an ethicist, business owner and Editor of Australian Medicine. 

Praise for Alphabetter:

''Written by Philosophy and ethics scholar Maura Pierlot, ALPHABETTER takes readers on a journey through the alphabet empowering them with words and behabviours around developing a growth mindset - from 'engaged' and 'inclusive' to 'loyal' and 'selfless'....''

Karys McEwen, Review in Books+Publishing

Praise for Fragments, the play:

"Fragments…. gives audiences a multi-sensory, embodied experience of what it’s like to be a teenager in distress….. It’s an effective exploration of not quite being able to communicate effectively, and what happens when those around you can’t quite see your reality under fake smiles and photoshopped selfies…..And despite the angst, the script also contains moments of genuine humour, of wit, and of hope. "

Erin Stewart, Review in Arts Hub

Praise for Fragments: Journeys from Isolation to Connection, the book (2nd Edition):

"Fragments offers a raw, authentic glimpse into the lives and struggles of young people. The play and web series are essential experiences for any young person searching for the light at the end of their tunnel, and a literary space where they can exist as more than just a fragment."

Jade Breen, Review in Reading Time, 2023

Di Walker’s second novel Everything We Keep was published by Scholastic Australia in 2021 and shortlisted in the Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards 2021. It is a 60,000 word length story aimed at the 11+ market, and is contemporary fiction with a strong female protagonist.  Agatha has been in and out of foster care for several years, having been removed from her parents because they are hoarders. When the story begins she is about to be returned yet again to her parents. The foster carers are a retired nurse and her naval husband, who is currently away on a ship.

Agatha has a growing realisation that if she stays with her parents she will be consumed by the stuff; she sees herself becoming like her mother. As much as she loves them she knows, to survive, she needs to be away from her parents. As the story unfolds she discovers that it is through friendship and courage the struggle to both save herself and love her parents is a possibility.

Children's Author

Dr Helen Edwards, PhD,  an award-winning children’s and YA author and speaker, has published three middle grade novels with Riveted Press in as many years. On Gallant Wings (2025)  shines a light on many little-known aspects of WWII's impact on Australians at home. Legend of the Lighthouse Moon  (2024) won the Category Two section of the 2025 Forevability Awards:
https://www.facebook.com/Forevability.  The Rebels of Mount Buffalo (2023), is an historical fiction time-slip adventure featuring Guide Alice Manfield.  A fourth mid grade Riveted work, co-authored with Kate Gordon, will be published later this year. Helen is now also working on a number of other stories for this age group.

Helen writes stories that reduce stereotypes and increase understanding of diversity, including characters who live with chronic illness, mental illness, and/or who are neurodivergent, in her books. She has had type 1 diabetes since 1979, and Anxiety and ADHD, both diagnosed in adulthood. She is also interested in writing stories that reflect the Australian environment, culture and history.

Jayne McIntyre's debut mid-grade novel, the first in a series, will be published by Riveted Press in 2026. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism and works as a marketing manager on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. She has two, primary-school-aged children and is an avid writer and reader. She was named Professional Business Woman of the Year finalist in the 2023 Sunshine Coast Business Women’s Awards, is a member of the Queensland Writers Centre, and in late 2023 completed a Writing Residency at Varuna, The Writers’ House in Katoomba.

Having grown up on the Sunshine Coast, and lived on Fraser Island as a child, Jayne has an appreciation for the natural environment and likes to find magic in the everyday. Her writing is influenced by the Australian landscape (bush to beach) and animals. With famed Aussie author Ethel Turner (Seven Little Australians) in her family tree, Jayne lives and breathes imaginative stories to educate and inspire.

Jayne has a strong background in corporate writing, editing, design, workshop facilitation, and social media management, and is keen to participate in book reading events, school talks and other opportunities.

Jayne is at present working on a number of mid-grade novels.

LinkedIn: Jayne (Munday) McIntyre | LinkedIn
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaynem_writes

Scriptwriter and Children's Author

Kevin Nemeth is a popular and award winning scriptwriter with over 25 year experience in the industry. He has been awarded five Australian Writers' Guild Awards and has received another nine nominations. He graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts with a Diploma in Dramatic Arts and has received an Australia Council Literature Board Fellowship. A new children's picture storybook will be published in 2026.

Children’s and Non Fiction Author

Alan Sunderland is married with three sons and lives in Sydney. He is a retired, award winning journalist who now consults and writes and talks about children’s books and journalism. His latest book is The Ten Rules of Reporting and he is at present working on a children's story in which the protagonists employ these rules to get help to escape the worst ever summer camp.

He won a Walkley Awards for covering an attack on the Iranian Embassy in Canberra in 1992, and for a series of exclusive reports from East Timor. He has also won the prestigious Council of the Deans of Education Award for education journalism three times in two years, which constitutes something of a record. Alan is an entertaining presenter for schools and libraries. See our Speakers section and Alan's web site at www.alansunderland.com for more information.

Alan writes children’s books for 8-12 year olds. His latest novel for young readers,  Six Seconds, was pubished in 2021 and is part of the Scholastic My Australian Story Series. Growing up by the beach in Newcastle in 1989 means footy, sandcastle competitions and school. Michael's dad's a journalist and his small world gets bigger as he starts to pay attention to the news. His interest turns into anxiety and obsession as Michael begins to see the world as a dangerous place that is fast collapsing around him. When the Berlin Wall comes down, most see it as a sign of change and freedom but Michael isn't convinced. But when an earthquake hits his home down, Michael discovers that the worst that can happen is not always as bad as your fears. 

Children’s Author

Wendy Orr is an internationally published and award-winning author of more than thirty books, ranging from picture books to adult ficiton. She was born in Canada, and grew up in France, Canada and USA. After high school she studied occupational therapy in England, married an Australian farmer, and moved to Australia. They had a son and daughter, and are now proud grandparents who live on five acres of bush on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne. Wendy's books have been translated into twenty-seven languages.

When Wendy was nine, she wrote a story about an orphan girl living on an island. Many years later, she remembered the feeling of writing that story, and started writing Nim’s Island. In 2008 the book became the first Australian children’s book to become a Hollywood feature film. In 2020, to celebrate 21 years since the publication of the first Nim book, Allen & Unwin published The Complete Adventures on Nim's Island, including all three Nim stories.

Children’s Author

Jayne Lyons is married and a full time working mother, with one daughter. She was born and raised in the UK and has been living in Perth since January 2005. Jayne works for a major Australian corporation offsetting carbon emissions. She has also worked in the developing world and seen first hand the challenges faced by children there. She is passionate about children being given the opportuity to achieve their dreams.  Jayne loves talking about books and writing to students and adults of all ages and is available as a speaker.

200% Wolf, a second feature film based on her debut novel for young readers, 100% Wolf,  screened in movie theatres in 2024. See the trailer here. The second TV Series, 100% Wolf: The Book of Hath, was premiered on ABC ME and ABC iview in 2023.

 

Adult and Children’s Non-Fiction  and Fiction Author

Vicki Bennett is an author, artist, filmmaker, writing coach, and corporate trainer. She has written over 10 books and written and co-produced a documentary, Never Forget Australia. Most recently she has written a number of Picture Stroybooks introducing young readers to special stories about WWI and WWII. Vicki's latest children's book, Charlie's War, was published by Windy Hollow in October 2023. This story is based on true events and is about a young Aboriginal boy, Charlie Bird and two friends who served in WWI. Vicki has been the curator of this narrative from Des Crump, Charlie's great nephew and Charlie's daughter and grand-daughter who support this project. The Promise (2022), was launched at the 80th Anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Milne Bay. It is based on a true story about a Papua New Guinea Nurse who saved the life of an Australian Airman. The bravery of nurse Maiogaru Taulebona was recognised when she was awarded the Royal Australia Air Force Loyalty Medal.

Young Adult and Children's Author

Robyn Bavati is the author of four novels. Her latest book, A Weekend with Oscar, was published by Walker Books in 2021. It won the 2025 Victor Prize for Readers aged 12-15 in Belgium for the French edition translated by Anne Cohen Beucher for independent publisher Alice Jeunesse. The Victor Fund was set up in memory of Victor Van de Woestyne who died aged 13 in 2016. The goal of the Fund is to encourage children aged 12 to 15 to read, with the motto  'A child who reads is an adult who thinks.' 

Sixteen-year-old Jamie lives with his mother and younger brother Oscar, who has Down syndrome. Though Jamie is still grieving the death of his father,  life starts to look up when he meets Zara, the new girl at school. When their mother goes away for the weekend, Jamie volunteers to look after Oscar. But when the weekend is over and their mother doesn't return, Jamie faces the toughest challenge of his life.