DIANE CONNELL was born and educated in New Zealand and has lived and worked in Japan, France and the UK. She began her writing career in a newspaper office in Tokyo before becoming an advertising copywriter and writing for the international non-profit sector. For many years she lived in Paris, where she began writing as a novelist. She later moved to London, where her first two books, Julian Corkle is a Filthy Liar and Sherry Cracker Gets Normal, were published under the name of D.J. Connell. She now lives in Sydney.
'A wise, tender but unflinching portrait of an ordinary family and the unordinary girl at its heart. Ricky - fragile, tough, endearing and funny - is a fabulous creation. She'll walk around in my world all year, and more.' -- Kristina Olsson, award-winning author of Shell and Boy, Lost 'Fierce and wonderful and utterly singular, Ricky embodies the sheer joy and transformative power of storytelling' -- Kate Mildenhall * The Mother Fault and Skylarking * 'Connell has created a rich, complex, multi-layered character in Ricky Bird' * The AU Review * '[Ricky's] vivid narration buoys a novel through dark and desperate undercurrents ... The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird has been compared to Curious Incident and Shuggie Bain, and it's true that Diane Connell lends a unique voice to a child struggling to make sense of an adult world.' * Sydney Morning Herald * 'Heart-warming, life-affirming, happy and sad ... I absolutely loved Ricky Bird and her witty, insouciant, funny, critical, quick and loving personality.' -- Cass Moriarty, author of The Promise Seed