Jackie Hosking began writing for children after completing a creative writing course at her local community house in Anglesea Victoria. Her first children’s poem, If I Were a Giant was published by The School Magazine in 2005 it has since found a home in India where it helps students to learn English. The School Magazine continues to publish her poems, short stories and articles. Jackie’s poems also appear in anthologies both here and overseas and Walker published her first picture book, The Croc and the Platypus in 2014 which was shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards, 5-8 years category in 2015. Jackie wrote The Croc and the Platypus as a writing exercise to see if she could emulate Edward Lear’s The Owl and the Pussycat while giving the story an Aussie twist. When she was awarded a Maurice Saxby Mentorship in 2012 she took this story along where she was able to polish it thanks to her wonderful mentors. In 2011 she was invited to be a Maurice Saxby mentor herself to an author, who like Jackie, loves to write in rhyme. In 2019 Jackie was awarded a May Gibbs Creative Time Fellowship where she worked on her writing in Canberra for a month. Jackie loves to write in rhyme and when she’s not writing in rhyme she loves to help others with their rhyme via her Rhyming Manuscript Editing Service or through her writing course, Metre Matters. Grown in Australia, Lesley Vamos received a high distinction in BA Design at COFA with a special honorary award in animation, although she still holds a pencil incorrectly. She spends her time doodling, travelling, running her design and illustration business (Striped Designs) and hanging out with her little family.
A vibrantly coloured picture book about camping fun has been published in time for summer holidays. * Reading Time *