Featured News
A West Australian Handshake: City of Light
It was twenty years ago today It felt wonderfully apt to be speaking (launching, after a fashion!) City of Light at the 20th anniversary of A Night With Our Stars. This event began as a twinkle in the eye of Jenny Woodroffe in 2003, and its light has been kept burning...
Writing City of Light – A Picture Book!
One day, several years ago, I was minding my own business when I got a message through the contact form on this website. I’ve had some lovely messages before – people in their twenties and thirties who loved my early novels when they were teenagers, researchers...
Cool(gardie), Kalgoorlie
Dear Reader, it’s BookWeekMonth for creators of children’s and young adult books, as well as most teachers and long-suffering costume-creating parents around Australia. I was hugely thrilled to return to Kalgoorlie in Wongatha country for my first gigs there since …...
Oh What A Night!
The Children’s Books Council of WA’s annual A Night With Our Stars event was held on Friday 18 March at the Bendat Parent and Community Centre in Wembley. En-masked, sanitised and socially distanced teachers, librarians, publishers, booksellers, writers and...
How to Avoid a Happy Life: the blog
Dear Reader, Shortly I will be launching a new blog here, detailing my trials, tribulations and hopefully triumphs in writing in a completely new genre, the memoir. I am debating whether to create a blog separate to this website so that the kids’ content and the more...
Best Books of 2021
It’s the time of the year for best-of lists. Here is my selection of books you won’t (in my opinion) be sorry to read. This is based on my version of Tony Thompson’s version of Goodreads’ version of a list First book of 2021: My first 2021 books were published in...
As good as Dancing Queen
Hello dear Reader! As of tomorrow, I am transitioning into full time writing/presenting/consulting, after a truly hectic couple of years/decades of juggling the various aspects of my life. I am pleased that I will be able to go and talk to kids in schools more often...
Mel and Shell: more reviews! More ABBA news!
What a time, dear Reader! Not only has Mel and Shell made its way into the world, thanks to the superlative Fremantle Press, with the grooviest, ABBA-est cover ever!, but ABBA released two singles the day after its publication! AND they have announced concert dates in...
Mel and Shell: the first review
Any writer knows the most important review is the first one. You’ve spent all these years working on your manuscript, and, beyond managing to interest a publisher, you don’t know how it will be received. So I was surprised and delighted to receive this from Jan...
Merry in March: Mel and Shell
Happy equinox to you, Dear Reader! I am fantabulously excited to let you know that the ABBA novel, as was its working title, now has not only a launch date (September) but an actual cover (see below). The blurb and a sample chapter is now available here. Thank you...