Frané Lessac
Author/Illustrator Frané Lessac is an artist of international renown having exhibited in London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, and the Caribbean. Her award winning children's books have been translated into a variety of different languages.
Residing in Western Australia, Lessac was born in the United States. She studied Ethnographic Film at UCLA in California. On completing her studies she moved to the Caribbean island of Montserrat where she began her career as a painter. Travelling is a major source of inspiration for her work as she renders her impressions of a country and the way of life in her oil and gouache paintings. A prolific artist she has captured the magic, the simplicity and the reality of Caribbean, Papua New Guinean, African, Polynesian, Indian and urban American folk cultures.
Frané now has over 30 books published throughout the world. Her greatest ambition is to instill pride and self esteem in children about their own unique heritage and their ability to capture it in pictures and words.
More information : www.franelessac.com
Steve Hawke
Barefoot Kids is Steve Hawke's first novel. His other books are Noonkanbah (1989), a history of the conflict over oil drilling on sacred land in the Kimberley, and Polly Farmer (1993), a biography of the great footballer.
Steve grew up in Melbourne, but after a brief stint in Tasmania, found his way to the Northern Territory, and then to the Kimberley as a nineteen year old in 1978. Captivated by the country, the history and the people, he finished up staying for almost fifteen years, working in many fields and a range of jobs for Aboriginal communities and organisations.
Since moving to Perth in the early 1990s, he has continued his association with the Kimberley, returning most years. He has continued to write, working in film and television. His current major projects are a follow up novel, and the stage play Jandamarra , a tri-lingual epic about the Kimberley frontier of the 1890s, being developed as a co-production between Black Swan Theatre of Perth, and Bunuba Films, an Aboriginal company in Fitzroy Crossing.
Jeannie Baker
Jeannie Baker studied art and design at Brighton polytechnic, UK before settling in Australia in 1975. The turning point for her affinity with Australia was a visit to the Daintree which inspired her award-winning children's book Where the Forest Meets the Sea (1987), set in the tropical rainforest and which has sold one million copies worldwide.
She is the author and illustrator of numerous picture books, several of which have won Australian and international awards. These include Polar (1975) by Elaine Moss in Britain, followed by Grandfather (1977) which she wrote and illustrated, Grandmother (1978), set in Tasmania and Millicent (1980) about an elderly woman who feeds the pigeons in Sydney's Hyde Park. She creates collages that mimic nature in minute detail - a bonsai approach - and photographs them for her picture books.
While she refuses to sell her works, she lends individual pieces to public galleries. Her collage collections have been exhibited in galleries in London, New York and Australia. The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney has committed itself to exhibiting her work for a decade, changing the display every two years.
Many of the books have a strong environmental focus and the stories in some of them, Window on a Changing World, (1991), for example, which won a Children's Book Council award in 1992, is a series of views from a window on a landscape being changed by expanding suburbs, without text.
Jeannie has said that Australia has given her freedom and space to explore her art.
More information : www.jeanniebaker.com
Doug MacLeod
Doug MacLeod is a Melbourne writer for adults and children who has worked with most of Australia 's top comedians.
After writing many children's books for Penguin (including the award-winning Sister Madge's Book of Nuns) and working for ABC Radio's comedy department, Doug spent two years as head writer for Network Ten's The Comedy Company. He then wrote and produced around thirty episodes of the The Colin Carpenter Show for Ten, before joining Artist Services full-time and becoming a principal writer on Fast Forward, Full Frontal (which he also produced) and Big Girl's Blouse (which he script-edited).
As a break from sketch comedy he co-wrote five episodes of SeaChange with Andrew Knight.
For ABC TV Doug co-produced the three series of The Micallef Program. For cable TV he produced 22 episodes of The Bob Downe Show.
Since 2004 he has worked as the script editor on the popular ABC comedy, Kath and Kim.
With writer Phillip Dalkin Doug devised and wrote the animated series Dogstar for the BBC. He won an Australian Writers' Guild award in 2006 for his script for the first episode. With satirist John Clarke, Doug wrote the book for the stage musical of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, which premiered at The Sydney Festival in 2007 before going on to seasons in Perth and Adelaide.
Doug's novel for teenagers, I'm Being Stalked by a Moonshadow, was published by Penguin in 2006. For younger, upper primary readers he has written Leon Stumble's Book of Stupid Fairytales (Working Title, 2005) and Kevin the Troll (Penguin, 2007).
Anita Heiss
Dr Anita Heiss is a member of the Wiradjuri nation of central New South Wales and is one of Australia 's most prolific and well known Indigenous authors.
Her published works include the historical novel Who Am I? The Diary of Mary Talence, Sydney 1937, the poetry collection Token Koori , satirical social commentary Sacred Cows, non-fiction text Dhuuluu-Yala (To Talk Straight) - Publishing Aboriginal Literature, and a children's book entitled Me and My Mum. Anita has also edited editions of Southerly, Five Bells and the anthology Life in Gadigal Country.
Anita has performed her works nationally (Sydney Writers' Festival, Perth International Arts Festival, Adelaide Writers' Week, Byron Bay Writers' Festival, Message Sticks, Brisbane Writers Festival, Melbourne Poetry Festival, Brisbane Poetry Festival, among others) and internationally in Spain, Austria, the USA, Canada, Fiji, Japan and New Caledonia. She has also been published widely in journals, anthologies and on-line.
Anita was Communications Adviser for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board (2001-2003), was a member of the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Committee of Management from 1998-2004 and was Deputy Director of Warawara Department of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University from 2005-2006.
In 2003 in recognition of her literary achievements Anita was awarded the ASA Medal for Under 35s for her contribution to Australian community and public life. In 2004 Anita was awarded the NSW Indigenous Arts Fellowship and was listed in The Bulletin magazine's "Smart 100". She was also nominated for a 2004 Deadly Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literature.
In 2004, wrote and directed her first short-film "Checkerboard Love" as part of the Lester Bostock mentorship program through Metro Screen, Sydney . She was also writer in residence at Macquarie University .
Anita has made guest appearances on the Einstein Factor, Message Stick, Vulture Critical Mass and A Difference of Opinion.
Her latest works include Not Meeting Mr Right (Random House, 2007), I'm not racist, but. (Salt Publishing) and Yirra and her deadly dog Demon (ABC Books, May 2007).
Anita is currently the Coordinator of the AustLit - Black Words subset and on the Board of Directors for Gadigal Information Services / Koori Radio in Sydney.
Ghostwriters
Rob Hirst and Rick Grossman return with the strongest ever Ghostwriters line-up: ex-Midnight Oil man Martin Rotsey on guitar, Lee Moloney on drums (Diesel, Lost Gospel), and producer/guitarist DC (Beau Young) on guitar/keys.
Ghostwriters new album, Political Animal (Sony/BMG), including the single 'Start the Day', will be launched at the East Coast Blues & Roots Festival, at Byron Bay (April 8, 9).
The songs are tough, melodic, and retain the excitement and energy that comes from recording live in the studio. As Rick says, laughing: 'This group is driven by powerful stuff ? deep anger and resentment!'
Certainly, Political Animal was prompted by a sense of foreboding about world conflicts, and frustration with the government and their media lickspittles: 'I felt I needed to match my money with my big ARIA mouth', says Rob, referring to his recent comments regarding the virtual disappearance of local protest music.
Rick has the final word: 'Ghostwriters have evolved into a (shock, horror) rock band! The group has got the mix right, with a hard sound that mirrors the sentiment. And the passion burns bright'.
More information : www.ghostwriters.com.au
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