Rebecca Lim is an Australian writer, illustrator and editor and the author of over twenty books, including The Astrologer’s Daughter (A Kirkus Best Book of 2015 and CBCA Notable Book for Older Readers), Afterlight and Wraith. Her work has been…
The Sapling’s Simie Simpson, a long-time fan girl of award-winning, Australian picture book author and illustrator Bob Graham, literally bombards him with questions about his books: what it takes to create books that speak to us, stand the test of…
The Sapling co-editor Nida Fiazi reviews the first picture book retelling of her favourite childhood folktale Buz-e-Chini. She recalls the nightmare that revived Afghan oral storytelling traditions within her family, and shares how this helped improve her oral literacy as…
Australian author and editor Davina Bell is an exceptional storyteller for kids aged 2 to 12. Her broad range of books include picture books like Under the Love Umbrella (Scribble) and her most recent All of the Factors of Why…
Morris Gleitzman, acclaimed author of Toad Rage and many other books, is the 2018–19 Australian Children’s Laureate – the nation’s ambassador for children’s literature. The role is keeping him intensely busy, but Johanna Knox managed to speak with him by…
Paul Jennings is a legend of Australian children’s literature. He burst onto the literary scene in 1985 with his first anthology of short stories featuring weird, spooky and humorous tales with a twist, and never looked back. He has countless…
Children’s book designer Vida Kelly has worked with Freya Blackwood at various times throughout Freya’s career as an illustrator. This wonderful interview is part of our ‘Across the Ditch’ series. Freya Blackwood is a multi award-winning children’s author and illustrator….
Australian author Zana Fraillon is an observer of the unseen: ‘As an author, I am drawn to the absences and the silences in our world.’ She is drawn in by those voices that aren’t being listened to, the stories that…
The Sapling editor Sarah Forster writes about her childhood spent between New Zealand and Australia, the books she read as a result, and explains why we’re making room for the Aussies on this site. I lived, from the ages two…
Our editor Jane Arthur comes out from behind the curtain to interview the multi-accoladed Australian children’s writer Ursula Dubosarsky, whose latest novel The Blue Cat is out now. Ursula Dubosarsky made me an evangelist at first read. It was The…