I grew up as the youngest of four kids with two parents that somehow allowed and encouraged me to pursue my interests without me realising. I learnt the violin and guitar and was pretty certain I would one day become one of the world’s greatest songwriters, sitting somewhere alongside Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Brian Wilson.
This didn’t happen, so it was lucky I could draw little pictures of people.
I’ve always written stories and scribbled pictures. I can’t remember a birthday or Christmas present that didn’t include pencils and sketchbooks. After making little books for family and then teaching for a few years, I began immersing myself in picture books. I immediately fell in love with the work of the great picture book creators: Quentin Blake, Stephen Michael King, Peter H. Reynolds, Freya Blackwood, Libby Gleeson, Shaun Tan, Armin Greder, Oliver Jeffers, Bob Graham and more.
I completed a picture book course with Dr Virginia Lowe and put together a dummy version of my book, Jessica’s Box. A little while later, New Frontier accepted the book. My tale of a little girl’s attempt to find friendship entered the world in April 2008.
My second book, Sarah’s Heavy Heart (New Frontier), was released in April 2009 and my third book, The Important Things (New Frontier), was released in May 2010. My fourth book, Last Tree in the City (New Frontier) came out in October 2010 and my fifth, The Great Expedition (New Frontier) came alive in May 2011. The end of that year also saw the arrival of Mr Darcy, written by Alex Field with my illustrations. The next story to escape my brain and find itself in the form of a book is The Children Who Loved Books (New Frontier), to be released in June 2012, followed by a collaboration with Pat Flynn, My Totally Awesome Story (UQP), due out in September 2012.
I live on the Sunshine Coast with my wife, two daughters and a scruffy dog that occasionally escapes.
