Sara Acton is an award-winning author and illustrator. Sara grew up in the Cotswolds in England and always loved drawing, especially people and other strange creatures. She studied BA Hons Fine Art and trained as an Art Teacher in London. After teaching and practicing art in England and New Zealand Sara moved with her family to Australia.
Sara now lives in a small seaside village on the Central Coast of NSW, where she enjoys writing and illustrating for children in her studio, whilst drinking tea and eating far too many biscuits. When not in her studio she can be found out and about sketching and visiting schools, libraries and bookshops to deliver presentations and workshops.
Her first picture book Ben and Duck won the 2012 Children’s Book Council of Australia Crichton Award for new illustrators.
Adam Wallace is New York Times, USA Today and Amazon Bestselling author of the How to Catch series! As well as the Jackson Payne, Fartboy, Cowboy and Birdbrain and many more books.
Adam’s passion is to bring excitement, energy, humor and joy to children (of all ages!) through his books and school presentations.
He spends his non-writing time thinking about writing and going to as many live music shows as he can.
Adam’s interactive and fun talks are best suited to talks in primary schools.
He inspires children of all levels to easily create not only stories, but also their own cartoon characters with the assistance of the How to Draw series.
Please note: Adam is fully booked for Term 3 2024. However does have availability in terms 2 &4.
Nicky Johnston is an award-winning author and illustrator of over thirty books for children including 2023 Shortlisted book Jørn’s Magnificent Imagination, 2022 Honor book Amira’s Suitcase and 2022 Speech Pathology book of the Year The Incredibly Busy Mind of Bowen Batholomew Crisp.
Nicky’s illustration style is often described as whimsical, playful, narrative, emotive and colourful. She loves to work in watercolour, ink, pencils, pastel, and printing techniques.
Her illustration workshops are fun, engaging and give students hands on success at all levels. She shares her love of visual storytelling and inspires the students to stretch themselves. She is passionate about working with young children, encouraging them to use their imagination and develop their own ideas.
Mark Wilson is a multiple award-winning author/illustrator with 24 children’s books in print worldwide, in 14 languages. Mark grew up with a love of comics, drawing, rock music, Australian history and endangered species – exploring most of these themes through his writing, illustrating, paintings and workshops. He has won many Awards for children’s literature, including ten CBCA Awards, four Wilderness Society Awards, the 3rd C.J. Picture Book International Award, the 2011 Dromkeen Medal for Services to Children’s Literature. He also won a 2023 CBCA award for Votes for Women! The Story of Nellie, Rose and Mary.
He hopes his books and workshops encourage students to study not only their own family history, but also Australian history, as well as native species and conservation.
My grade 4 students were so engaged and very eager to share what they had learnt with our principal when she dropped by. I can’t wait to see the writing they produce after this. My students considered it an honor and privilege to meet Mark.
-Heathdale Christian College, Melton
Dean Rankine is a Ledger and Stanley Award winning comic book artist and writer best known for his work on Simpsons Comics. His other credits include; Futurama, Rick and Morty, Invader Zim, Underdog, Oggy and the Cockroaches, I Hate Fairyland and The Riverdale Diaries : Starring Veronica. He’s the illustrator on the Timmy the Ticked-Off Pony series – written by Magda Szubanski. And the writer/illustrator on the book series – Death Metal Emo Elves. He likes watching cat videos.
Pierre-Jacques and Jules Ober are a French/Australian creative duo who tell stories with photos of miniature figurines. Their first two books, ‘The Good Son’ and ‘Jacqueline – a soldier’s daughter’ have won prizes in Australia and France for their totally original visual style and their ability to entertain and move audiences, young and old. Jules has made 2 other books using photography of miniatures: ‘Tarni’s Chance’ and ‘Rockpooling with Pup’ will also be included in the presentation. Our workshops are generally conducted in two parts and feature lots of pictures (projector required). Pierre-Jacques talks about his love of dressing up, film making, toy soldiers and the historical background of the stories. Jules then takes over with an insight into the process used for making the books and how drama and emotion can be drawn out of little plastic figures. Finally, the participants are invited to come and try toy photography of a miniature set that has been constructed especially for the day. They can experiment with taking pictures on a phone, digital camera or ipad.
Please note: We prefer to work with groups no larger than 25 as our presentation is interactive and this number gives the best experience to all students. Groups larger than this (up to 35 students) would require 90 minutes at an additional fee per session.
Serena is an international children’s book author and illustrator known for her highly successful middle grade series Lulu Bell, Mia Megastar and Pepper Creek Ponies and picture books We are Matildas, Hope is a Spark and Rosie & Rasmus. She has illustrated over seventy titles and is currently writing and illustrating her first graphic novel as part of the Ella series called Ella Forever. Growing up a reluctant reader, Serena found her brother’s comic collection the perfect escape and encourages reluctant readers to read through her illustrations and use of visual imagery. Serena also spent six years working as an artist for Walt Disney Studios, on sequel to the Lion King, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid and Jungle Book which has enabled her to capture emotion and movement with her characters. In her spare time, she captures her life through sketches and comics, seeks out humour in her week. Serena works both digitally and traditionally.
