Books were hugely important to Libby Gleeson as a child, and have remained the focus of her adult life.

Libby’s fiction and picture books have won multiple awards, including CBCA short-listings and wins, State Premier’s Literary Awards, the Bologna Ragazzi Award in 2000, and the Prime Minister’s Award in 2013.

For her services to children’s literature, Libby has been honoured with the Lady Cutler Award (1997), Member of the Order of Australia (2007), the Dromkeen Medal (2011) and the Nan Chauncy Award (2015).

Freya Blackwood was born in Edinburgh and grew up in Orange in NSW, Australia where she now lives with her daughter Ivy.

After graduating from UTS in Visual Communications, Freya worked in the film industry as a production assistant, runner and effects technician.

She began illustrating picture books in 2002 and has since been shortlisted for, and won many prestigious awards, including the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2010. Award-winning titles