Untangled Tales

Meet your celebrity authors and illustrators here!

Christian Bocquee

Christian started his artistic career as an animation assistant in a Brisbane animation
studio, producing inbetween drawings and turning the animators’ sketches into finished artwork.

After going on to work as a freelance animator, producing both 3D computer animation and traditional hand drawn animation for several clients, Christian began to focus on illustration for youth fiction where he felt he could have the most creative input.

Working in both traditional and digital media, he enjoys exploring surreal, fantastical worlds, as well as sensitive impressions of the everyday.

Christian is currently illustrating J.R.Poulter’s fractured fairytale, The Fox and Cross Bun. You can see one of his illustrations on the Summer Reading Club website by reading the fractured fairytale, The Fox and Cross Bun. Christian also contributes to the online activity, 5 Minutes With.

Visit Christian’s website to view his portfolio of work!

Deborah Abela

Deborah Abela knew she wanted to be a writer when she was 7 years old. Her first novel Max Remy Superspy Part 1: In Search of the Time and Space Machine is about a feisty girl called Max and her best friend Linden who travel the world as secret agents fighting bad guys. It’s an action-packed series based on loads of adventures Deb had just after she left school.  She’s slept beside alligators, been harassed by monkeys (and who hasn’t) was almost traded for a camel and was thrown in jail at gunpoint, twice. Deb still claims her innocence to this day.

Together with sport icon Johnny Warren, Deb also created the Jasper Zammit (Soccer Legend) series about a young boy called Jasper and his best friend Lil, who love their soccer and dream of being soccer legends, just like Johnny. Deb lives in Sydney with her partner Todd, who is almost as cute as Linden.

Deborah contributes to this year’s online activities Read All About It, 5 Minutes With and Hints and Tips.

Visit Deborah Abela’s website to learn more about this exciting author!

Hilary Badger

Hilary Badger is the author of the Space Scout series, which follows the adventures of Kip Kirby, an intrepid space explorer. Hilary’s alter-ego is H.I. Larry, the mysterious author of the popular Zac Power series.

As well as a children’s book author she has also worked as a copywriter in an advertising agency. Hilary has created campaigns for all kinds of products from underwear to cat food, chocolate bars and ice cream.

Hilary says her books are designed to be action-packed and fun to read. She doesn’t want anyone to feel that reading her books are a chore. Hilary Badger’s books are fun, exciting and a bit silly–and are books that kids who don’t like reading like to read!

Hilary has contributed two original Fractured Fairytales to this year’s Summer Reading Club!

 

Jennifer R Poulter

Jennifer R Poulter once worked in a circus. This definitely qualifies her to write for children!

Jennifer R Poulter writes as J.R. Poulter. She has been published in Australia, UK and USA, having 7 books with mainstream publishers, including major award winner Mending Lucille, and 9 digital books.  She has a 6 book series published for education, “Poetry Action for Classroom and Stage”. Five more books are coming out in 2013, with more to follow.

Jennifer loves teaching children the fun to be had with words whether in poetry or prose and doing  dramatised book readings.  She also writes literary poetry and short stories under J.R.McRae and does NOT have two heads. Jennifer does however, have many friends. The lovely image of her was drawn by her illustrator friend Angel Dominguez.

Jennifer contributes to this year’s online activities 5 Minutes With and has written three Fractured Fairytales.

Learn more about J.R. Poulter by visiting her website!

Julie Fison

Julie Fison is the author of the children’s adventure series Hazard River. The stories follow the adventures of Jack Wilde, his brother Ben, and their friends Mimi and Lachlan, who come up against smugglers, nasty fishermen, rogue developers and all kinds of baddies, while holidaying at Hazard River. 

Julie is currently working on a series of romance stories for teenagers called Smitten. Her new stories are due to hit bookshops next February.  

Before becoming a children’s author, Julie worked as a television reporter and presenter in Australia, Asia and Europe and had a lot of adventures along the way. She has shaken hands with an orangutan in Borneo, camped with elephants in Africa and has eaten rat soup, which apparently tastes as bad as it sounds.

She now lives in Brisbane with her husband and two sons and spends as much time as possible writing.

Julie contributes to this year’s online activities 5 Minutes With and Hints and Tips

Learn more about Julie by visiting her website or watching her book trailer here!

Kerry Brown

Kerry Brown grew up in Carnarvon, a coastal country town in Western Australia. Her childhood was typical of most children of that time, playing endlessly outside with her friends and spending holidays at the family ‘shack’ near the Blowholes. 

Her imagination worked overtime as she made new discoveries and invented new games behind the sand dunes with her friends.  

Kerry Brown is a children’s picture book author. She loves to create magical stories that take children to far away places. Most of her ideas come from her own children who have wonderful imaginations and look at the world with fresh and innocent eyes!

Kerry’s books include Can I Cuddle the Moon?, Poppy Wash and It’s Bedtime, which is a gorgeous rhyme book given to all new babies delivered in Queensland hospitals.  Her next book, A Truckload of Kisses, is due out mid 2013.

Kerry has been busy! This year she has contributed to the Untangled Tales: Fairy Tales Exposed!, What Happens Next, Celebrity Book Raves and 5 Minutes With online activities.

Learn more about Kerry by visiting her website to see what else she is currently working on.

Lucia Masciullo

Lucia Masciullo is an awarded children’s book illustrator. She’s Italian and she moved to Brisbane in 2007 with her partner.

Since then she has collaborated with Australian and English Publishers, illustrating nine books, among which is Come Down, Cat!, an Honour Book at the CBCA Awards 2012, and the successful series Our Australian Girl.

Lucia is also co-founder of a digital children’s book publishing company, Blue Quoll, through which she has released in May 2011 the first independent Australian children’s book App for iPad and iPhone, titled Mr. Wolf and the Ginger Cupcakes.

Lucia has contributed to the 5 Minutes With  and Colour online activities. Check out her 6 original Tangled Tale drawings and beautifully coloured illustrations for story starting inspiration!  

You can view more of Lucia’s artwork by visiting her website!

Martin Chatterton

Award-winning writer, illustrator and globally worshipped word magician, Martin Chatterton, was born in Liverpool, England during the first Jurassic Period and raised by a family of friendly marmosets.  

He graduated from art college in Londonium shortly after the Romans left and began drawing pictures for tiny amounts of money; something he has been doing for the last sixteen hundred years.  

In that time he’s produced roughly nine trillion illustrations and his right index finger has a callous on it the size of a labrador. Martin and his callous have illustrated lots of books, including the Gothic comedies Mort and Mortal Combat which he also wrote!  He has also written and illustrated the puzzle picture book Where Is Santa’s Suit?, illustrated four books in the Action Dogs series and is currently illustrating the Geek Inc. series by Mark Griffiths.

Martin lives in Lennox Head, NSW and is married with two vampires.

Martin contributes to this year’s online activities Fractured Fairytales,  5 Minutes With and Celebrity Book Raves.

Visit Martin’s website, the World of Chatterton to see what else he is up to at the moment!

Peter Carnavas

Peter Carnavas grew up as the youngest of four kids with two parents that somehow allowed and encouraged him to pursue his interests without him realising.  He learnt the violin and guitar and was pretty certain he would one day become one of the world’s greatest songwriters, sitting somewhere alongside Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Brian Wilson.

This didn’t happen, so it was lucky he could draw little pictures of people.

Peter has always written stories and scribbled pictures.  Every birthday and Christmas present included pencils and sketchbooks.  After making little books for family and then teaching for a few years, Peter began immersing himself in picture books.  

He immediately fell in love with the work of the great picture book creators:  Quentin Blake, Stephen Michael King, Peter H. Reynolds, Freya Blackwood, Libby Gleeson, Shaun Tan, Armin Greder, Oliver Jeffers, Bob Graham and more.

Peter completed a picture book course with Dr Virginia Lowe and put together a dummy version of his book, Jessica’s Box.  A little while later, New Frontier accepted the book.  

His tale of a little girl’s attempt to find friendship entered the world in April 2008. Many books have followed… Sarah’s Heavy Heart (2009), The Important Things (2010), Last Tree in the City (2010), The Great Expedition (2011), Mr Darcy (written by Alex Field, 2011), The Children Who Loved Books (2012) and My Totally Awesome Story (written by Pat Flynn, 2012).

Peter lives on the Sunshine Coast with his wife, two daughters and a scruffy dog that occasionally escapes.

Peter contributes to this year’s online activities 5 Minutes With.

Visit Peter’s website to learn more about him and the books he has written and illustrated.

Terry Denton

Terry Denton is one of those lucky people who can both write and illustrate. He has written fourteen children’s books himself and collaborated on thirty more with some of the most popular children’s authors in Australia.

Terry works best in the world of the imagination. His books are playful, noisy, humorous, colourful, dramatic, and always challenge the reader’s lateral thinking skills.

His mind has grown wild and chaotic as a result of being trapped in a big house with his four brothers for the first eighteen years of his life. He eventually escaped and now lives by the beach in a life he shares with his wife and three kids.

Terry Denton won the CBC Picture Book of the Year Award in 1986 and has since been short-listed many times. He won both the Mulitcultural Book of the Year and the Best Designed Book in 1993. In 2003 he was shortlisted for the 2002 Aurealis Award. His work has won countless children’s choice awards throughout Australia.

Lean more about Terry at 5 Minutes With or by visiting his website.

Tristan Bancks

Tristan Bancks tells stories for the page and screen. His background is in acting and filmmaking. His short films have won a number of awards and have screened widely in festivals and on TV.  

Tristan has written several books for children and teens, including the brand new Galactic Adventures, First Kids in Space (UQP, July 2011) and My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up (Random House, July 2011).  

He is also author of the Mac Slater books released in Australia and the US. Mac Slater Vs. The City was released in America, April 2011.

His illustrated series Nit Boy, is about everybody’s favourite mini-beasts. Nit Boy is currently being developed for television.

Tristan’s Young Adult novel, it’s yr life (Random House) was co-written via email between Byron Bay and L.A. with actress / author, Tempany Deckert. 

Tristan loves telling fast-moving stories for young people and inspiring others to create.

Follow Tristan’s Writters Blog ”Untangling Creativity” over the next 6 weeks! Tristan also shares a little more of himself in 5 minutes with.

Visit Tristan’s website to learn more about the projects he is currently involved!

Wendy Orr

Wendy Orr is a story-teller, a reader and a writer. She writes because it’s the best way she knows how to find out what she needs to know and which allows her to live other lives, in other times and places.  

Wendy writes the stories that come into her head, whether they turn out to be books for children, teenagers or adults.

Some of her books have won awards, and Nim’s Island was made into a Hollywood feature film starring Jodie Foster, Abigail Breslin and Gerard Butler.

Nim at Sea is about to start filming too, with Bindi Irwin as Nim.

But what Wendy is most excited about is whatever book she is working on, while she’s still living in that story. 

Wendy also loves presenting and talking about her passion for stories to inspire children and adults to read, write, and follow their dreams.

Read more from Wendy through her contributions to this year’s online activities 5 Minutes With and Hints and Tips.

Visit Wendy’s website for a list of titles that she has written. See how many you can find in your local library!