Bejamin Rome Clarke

Ben, aged 15, has two brothers, one older and one younger. He also has a golden retriever named Sam. When Ben was nine he won the Yarnold Creativity Scholarship at Mosman Church of England Preparatory School. He is now in Year 9 at St Ignatius’ College, Riverview. By the time Ben reached high school he had acquired a love of history from the books in the library and from his travels. He enjoys Latin and French and also Drama and Art. His other interests include history and exploring other countries, particularly Europe. Ben cannot remember a time when he did not aspire to be a fiction writer. A Definition of Magic was close to being put aside and forgotten. He rescued it at the end of 2010 and wrote most of it with his spare time in the summer holidays.                

 http://benjaminromeclarke.blogspot.com/

Juliette Davies

Hi, my name is Juliette Davies, I'm ten years old and I'm the author and creator of the JJ Halo series.

It all started when I was about four. I would draw pictures and my mum would encourage me to make up a story to go with them. When we were finished we'd glue it all together to make a book to read as a bedtime story.

My interest in spies began when my dad bought me a book: The Handbook for Spies. Since then I've collected many books about spies and become fascinated with the idea of being a spy; using gadgets, codes and disguises while having adventures seems very cool.

I began writing JJ Halo: Super Cool Spyling when I was eight. I had a dream that I went to spy school on an island with my best friend. It seemed like it might be a fun story. What began as a few hundred words quickly grew into something much bigger; about 5,500 words. It didn't take long before I realised I had far too many ideas for plots and gadgets to fit into one story.

JJ Halo: Shaddow Returns, my second book, with lots of new gadgets is about the quest to return the brain controller. I'm currently writing JJ Halo: Time Travel Trouble about how JJ Halo disobeys Director C and I still have lots more ideas for more books.

When I'm not writing I'm in Year 4 at school and my teacher, who believes it is important to follow your passion, lets me write during free time. I also have lots of other interests such as playing the oboe in the school concert band and being in a basketball team. Some other activities that I'm into which are useful for becoming a spy are gymnastics, snow boarding and Kung Fu.

Inspiration comes from all sorts of places such as experiences or dreams and sometimes it is just random. For instance, the other day I was just daydreaming and an idea popped into my head. Mostly my friends like to read about action and gadgets so that's what I work on most.

As I write this I'm travelling around the world with my parents for five weeks. It is an amazing adventure which has given me lots of ideas for my writing. I've been to the top of the Empire State Building, zoomed past the Statue of Liberty in a speed boat and had a flying trapeze lesson. Then I went SCUBA diving in the Bahamas and climbed the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Tomorrow we will visit a castle with a moat, a maze, a drawbridge and a dungeon.

I've never been into dolls or princesses. So when my mum told me the other day she'd seen a newspaper headline about "Superspy Barbie" I told her "They're two words that don't go together."

I still think I'd like to be a spy but I also think I'd like to be a writer.

Audra de la Torre

Author and iluustrator De la Torre lives in the Shoalhaven with her partner, Robert, and four children. She began writing when the children were very young, being caught up in the magic and wonder of stories that she was reading to them. To pursue her passion for writing, de la Torre attends the University of Wollongong, studying Creative Writing.

 Stripes and His Night Alone at Preschool was inspired by her eldest son after he left his beloved soft toy at preschool one day.

Kiri English-Hawke

My name is Kiri English-Hawke, and I've spent the last few years developing a novel about the Holocaust and WW2. In 2007 when I was in year 7 I started to write a novel about a family who escaped the war. Over the next few years the story expanded and changed until 2009 when I got involved with a school program called Student Success. I knew if I had a deadline I might actually stick with one version of the story and maybe even finish it so that's how the Handkerchief Map came into existence. Even though title changed many times (from Handkerchief Map to Mother, Darling, Dearest and The Surviving Remnants) that was what I named it in the first draft in year 7 and I guess the name stuck.

I've always had a small obsession with the era surrounding WW2, though before writing the Handkerchief Map it was all just a romantic time period to me, definantly horrific but all the same a little bit beautiful in some of the heroics people performed. I traveled last year around Europe gathering bits of information in different countries as I went. It's amazing the different involvement each country had and the impact of the decisions that people made during the time. I read a quote a little while ago while reading an interview by my favourite French artist Christian Boltanski, he says "that in the masses it's always the individual that counts". I think this sums up the efforts of individuals during the WW2 period perfectly, that the actions of one can be as powerful and memorable as those of a group of people all doing the same thing – you know, the Partisan who sticks her neck out to save the whole group, or in my story the soldier Franz and what changes him and what he changes. The decisions of seemingly ordinary individuals in extraordinary circumstances is what makes this book.

When I'm not at school or a home writing the beginning of a new story, I'm generally at the rowing sheds in Leichhardt. Leichhardt Rowing Club is really my second home, definitely the place I spend most of my time. I'm also regularly jogging around the bay; running is such a peaceful thing to do though it is also the place where I think up a lot of my stories though they are hardly ever remembered by the time the runs over, except for the odd line. I'm learning to play the guitar at the moment another creative component to balance out the schoolwork that's sure to pile up in the next few years.

I'm truly grateful for the knowledge I've acquired through writing this novel; it's given me a greater understanding of life and people themselves and also an increased respect for different cultures and war heroes. In some ways, however, this is a story of unsung heroes, everyday people who did amazing things to survive and help others survive.

Stewart Jackel

Jackel has taught young adults for many years and believes that many young men, particularly those that read, have sharp minds that can find partly revealed truths and despise being talked down to.

He has been head of Education at Melbourne Zoo, provided Curriculum leadership for principals around Victoria, researched for an Encyclopaedia Britannica project and now writes Science Curriculum materials when not writing fiction. He has been the Treasure Chest manager for Black Dog Books and has completed a Professional Writing and Editing Diploma at RMIT, winning the annual Judy Duffy prize.

Stewart wants his readers to know that this yarn is founded on historical dates (the Japanese bombing of Colombo did take place on Easter Sunday 1942) and places (Moor Street does intersect with Brunswick Street and the three storey building with its follies is still standing). 

Adrienne Sallay

Adrienne Sallay grew up on the shores of Sydney Harbour at Balmoral. From an early age she was a regular visit to Mosman Library, which was then in the old Boronia House on Military Road at Spit Junction. One rainy Saturday afternoon when she was ten years old she stuck date slips and borrowing cards into her own collection of books and lent them to all her friends in the street. She has been fascinated with books ever since. Adrienne attended North Sydney Girls' High School, and later, Sydney University (Science), University of Technology (Librarianship), Charles Sturt (Education) and Macquarie Universities (English). She has completed a doctorate in English, is married with two grown-up sons and lives at Roseville. She has an office in North Sydney, where for inspiration her desk overlooks Neutral Bay.

She has worked as a high school teacher, as a primary, secondary and tertiary librarian and as a lecturer at Macquarie University. Over the last 10 years she has received numerous community and university awards for her fiction. She is currently working as a facilitator with community reading & writing groups, and as a novelist.

Dr Sallay says that she sees so much good writing that ends up in bottom drawers that she is determined to bring it to the light of day – hence she has started this boutique publishing company. It is designed for self-motivated, emerging and independent writers seeking small or niche runs for literary fiction, biography or autobiography. With her model, the author pays an up-front fee and keeps copyright. Later plans for digitisation and hypermedia are planned.

Loaded Hearts (2008) is Adrienne's first novel. Spanning four continents, three decades and two generations, it delves into family secrets, the counter culture, identity, place and belonging. Mother of the Bride (2011), her second novel, is a domestic drama examining blissful wedding preparations and their aftermath. Adrienne is also developing a collection of short stories, The Change Room, written into a discontinuous narrative and weaving together the tales of six women who attend aquarobics at the local pool each morning.

Patricia Woolfrey

Patricia Woolfrey has participated in a number of Creative Writing workshops over the years and is an active member of her local writing group in Shoal Bay. The Amazing Adventures of Albert and Claude was largely written during her participation in those workshops. Because of the wide appeal of these characters and their stories, she has brought them together into one volume.

Patricia began the local branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers in 2002. She has published several short stories in magazines, and has self-published three books: A Knock On My Door, her autobiography, Let Mr Tell You, and A Christmas Box. Copies of these are available in the Tomaree Library at Nelson Bay.  The books are compilations of short anecdotal stories drawn mostly from her own life. She believed they would have limited appeal to the general public and so she distributed them mainly to family, friends and locals. She was pleasantly surprised by the extended response to her editions.  Patricia is currently helping four people with their biographies and researching more exploits for Albert and Claude.

The text is accompanied by charming line drawings done by artist Josephine Josephsen, who is Patricia’s daughter.