Meet the Artists

Karys McEwen is a high school librarian and the current president of the Victorian branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia. Her debut middle grade novel, All the Little Tricky Things, was published by Text Publishing in 2022.

Lev Grossman is the bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Magicians trilogy, which has also become a successful TV series. Previously a journalist who interviewed the likes of Neil Gaiman, his books The Silver Arrow and its follow up, The Golden Swift, are his first forays into writing for children.

Sofie Laguna is an author, actor and playwright. Her books have been named Honour Books and Notable Books in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards and have been shortlisted in the Queensland Premier’s Awards. She has been published in the US and the UK and in translation in Europe and Asia. Her books include On Our Way to the Beach, My Yellow Blanky, Too Loud Lily, Surviving Aunt Marsha, Bad Buster and Big Ned’s Bushwalk.

Marc McBride is the illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Deltora Quest series, which has sold over 18 million copies around the world and has become an anime TV show. He has illustrated more than 200 book covers as well as picture books and countless magazines, and has had work exhibited with the New York Society of Illustrators. His book The Glimme – created with Emily Rodda – was an Honour Book in the 2020 CBCA Book of the Year for younger readers. Marc’s latest book is The Glow, written by Sofie Laguna.

Brenton McKenna – a.k.a EZSRA – is a Yawuru artist based in Broome, WA. EZSRA found a passion for comic books in his youth that led to him becoming one of the world’s most respected First Nations graphic novelists. While the other kids played sport, ESZRA read comics and developed his storytelling abilities. His stories are a deep combination of his own childhood experiences, his grandmother’s stories about Broome, and the monsters and heroes that existed in his head.

Kay Kerr is an autistic author and freelance writer from the Sunshine Coast. Her two YA novels, Please Don’t Hug Me and Social Queue, are coming-of-age narratives featuring young neurodivergent women. Kay’s writing has also appeared in The Guardian, SBS Voices, Daily Life and Peppermint Magazine. Prior to receiving her adult autism diagnosis, Kay worked as a community newspaper reporter and editor in Brisbane. Her latest work is Love & Autism, a narrative nonfiction book about the uplifting celebration of neurodivergent love and the quest for it.

Tom Taylor is a #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author, BAFTA-nominated screenwriter and GLAAD Award nominee. He’s written for DCeased, Suicide Squad, Spider-Man, X-Men and more. His comics have sold over 8 million copies in the US and over 10 million globally. He is also the co-creator, executive producer and lead writer of the animated series The Deep, which can be seen in over 140 countries. He lives with his family in Australia.

Nova Weetman has written for TV and is the author of many middle grade and young adult novels. The Secrets We Keep was shortlisted for the Readings Children’s Book Prize, the Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards and the ABIA Awards. Its sequel, The Secrets We Share, was a 2018 CBCA Notable Book. Nova’s middle grade novel Sick Bay was a CBCA Notable Book and was shortlisted for the ABIA Awards. In 2022, The Edge of Thirteen was shortlisted for the ABIA’s Small Publishers’ Children’s Book of the Year Award and was a CBCA Notable Book.

Lili Wilkinson is the award-winning author of 18 books, including After
the Lights Go Out and The Erasure Initiative. She established the Inky
Awards at the Centre for Youth Literature, State Library Victoria. Lili has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne, and now spends most of her time reading and writing books for teenagers. Her latest book is A Hunger of Thorns.