About This Author

Request Author Booking

R.A. Spratt
Author | Grade 2-6
New South Wales

Canberra Tour
5th-9th August 2024

R.A. Spratt was born in the UK and lived in Dursley, Gloucestershire – a town immortalised by Harry Potter’s deeply unpleasant relatives – until she was two years old. Then, like many ambitious English people cursed with regional accents so strong no other British person can take them seriously, her family moved to Australia.

The tedium of growing up in the western suburbs of Sydney was fertiliser to the growth of R.A.’s imagination. The only thing for a kid to do was get on a bicycle and go to the library, so R.A. Spratt did just that. Once there, she read everything, devouring the books of Arthur Ransome, Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, Robin Klein and Judy Blume, and audiotapes of Shakespeare productions and Sherlock Holmes dramatisations. And so, her young mind was formed, and set on the path of becoming the extraordinary author she is today.

Now based in Bowral NSW, she’s the bestselling writer of dozens of absurd and witty books including Friday Barnes, The Adventures of Nanny Piggins, Hamlet is Not OK, The Peski Kids and the Shockingly and Astonishingly Good Stories collections. Her podcast, Bedtime Stories with R.A. Spratt, has had over 2 million downloads and connects R.A. with story-lovers across the globe.

Books by R.A. Spratt

Hamlet is Not OK

Best Suited 13+ Years
Selby hates homework.
She would rather watch TV – anything to escape the tedium of school, her parents’ bookshop and small-town busybodies.

So Selby didn’t plan to read Hamlet. She certainly never planned to meet him.

This novel transports Selby, and the reader, into the cold and crime-ridden play itself. Here she meets Hamlet- heavy with grief, the young prince is overthinking and over everything. Selby can relate. But unlike Hamlet, Selby isn’t afraid of making decisions. In her world, Selby is used to feeling overlooked. But in the bloody, backstabbing world of Shakespeare, Selby’s good conscience and quiet courage might just save some lives . . . hopefully before Hamlet stabs one of her classmates.

Bedtime Stories with R.A. Spratt

Bedtime has never been so bonkers! The ultimate collection of short stories from the irrepressibly funny author of Friday Barnes.

From the bestselling author and host of the hugely popular Bedtime Stories with R. A. Spratt podcast comes this bumper collection of the show’s most popular stories.

Just as the Grimm brothers collected fairytales and Scheherazade told tales of the Arabian nights, now R.A. Spratt has assembled the most comprehensive collection of silly stories ever bound together in one book.
Stories so good no human mind could come up with them. They were often dictated to R.A. by the world’s most glamorous storytelling pig, Nanny Piggins. There’s a never-before-seen Friday Barnes mystery, and tall tales from R.A.’s own domestic life. You’d better brace yourself – these are tales so tall you will get altitude sickness.

Delight your friends and dazzle your family by reading aloud from this book. Or drive them into a paroxysm of jealousy as they watch you silently read this book to yourself. Either way, you must buy this book if you want joy in your heart, a tickle in your funny bone and a boggled brain as you try to wrap your mind around the brilliance of these bedtime stories.

Astonishingly Good Stories

Best Suited 9+ years
From R.A. Spratt, bestselling author of Friday Barnes and Shockingly Good Stories, comes this collection of twenty terrific tales perfect for fans of Roald Dahl, David Walliams and Paul Jennings.

Featuring Greek myths and fractured fairytales as told by Nanny Piggins (the world’s most glamorous flying pig), a mystery investigated by Friday Barnes (girl detective) and a series of tales so tall they will give you altitude sickness.

This book will delight children from four to one hundred and four. Just the thing for reading at bedtime, when you’re supposed to be doing your homework or when you’ve been chased up a tree by an escaped rhinoceros and you’re waiting for the zookeeper to arrive.

Shockingly Good Stories

Best Suited 9+ years
Piranhas on the run, stolen sandwiches, chocolate waterfalls and so much more!

From R.A. Spratt, bestselling author of Friday Barnes, comes this collection of twenty short stories perfect for fans of Roald Dahl, David Walliams and Paul Jennings.

Featuring fractured fairytales told by none other than Nanny Piggins, previously unpublished Friday Barnes mysteries and a bunch of other hilarious and highly original tall tales.

This book will delight kids from seven to seventy, whether they’re after a bedtime story, entertainment for a long car ride or distraction in the doctor’s waiting room!

The Mystery of the Squashed Cockroach – The Peski Kids #1

Best Suited for ages 8-11 years
Life is hard enough without having to spend time with your siblings. But there is no other way for Joe, Fin and April Peski to solve the mystery of the cockroach catastrophes that is rocking their new home town of Currawong.

The Bear in the Woods – The Peski Kids #2

Best Suited for ages 8-11 years
No one believes April saw an enormous bear in the woods. No one thinks Fin didn’t break the Cat Lady’s foot. No one wants to know why Loretta bought Dad new underwear.

Stuck in the Mud – The Peski Kids #3

Best Suited for ages 8-11 years
Chaos parachutes into Currawong when the annual Mud Run hits town. The Peski kids are soon swept up in the festivities.

Right Sidebar Ad Banner

Our Partners