Many beloved Australian authors have taken on the role of Australian Children's Laureate to promote the importance of reading, creativity and story in the lives of young Australians.
As well as the current laureate, Morris Gleitzman, the following authors have taken on the Laureateship. Click on their names to find out more about their activities as Laureates.
Leigh Hobbs – Australian Children's Laureate 2016-17
Leigh is the bestselling author of more than 20 books. His subversive humour has delighted children for more than two decades.
He is best known for his children's books featuring his characters Old Tom, Horrible Harriet and Fiona the Pig and Mr Chicken, as well as the Freaks and their teachers in 4F for Freaks and Freaks Ahoy. Old Tom has been adapted into an extremely popular TV series.
Leigh has three times been shortlisted for the CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award (for Mr Chicken Goes to Paris, Horrible Harriet and Old Tom's Holiday) and his books have won every major children’s choice award in Australia. Leigh’s books are published by Allen & Unwin.
Jackie French – Australian Children's Laureate 2014-15
Jackie is the bestselling author of the iconic Diary of a Wombat and Hitler’s Daughter She has written over 170 fiction and non-fiction books.
Jackie's writing career spans 25 years and includes 248 wombats, 3,721 bush rats, 36 languages and over 60 awards in Australia and overseas.
Jackie has been a full time writer for over twenty years, and she is acclaimed in both literary and children’s choice awards. She is passionate about history, the environment and the conservation of wildlife and our planet. Jackie is also dyslexic, and is a strong advocate for the rights of children with learning difficulties.
Australia's Inaugural Children's Laureates 2012 - 2013
Much-loved children’s authors Alison Lester and Boori Monty Pryor were Australia’s first Children’s Laureates.
Boori Monty Pryor
Boori was born in North Queensland. His father is from the Birrigubba of the Bowen region and his mother from Yarrabah (near Cairns), a descendant of the Kungganji and Kukuimudji.
Boori has written several award-winning books with Meme McDonald including Maybe Tomorrow, My Girragundji, The Binna Binna Man and Njunjul the Sun. His picture book collaboration with Jan Ormerod, Shake a Leg, won the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Children's Fiction in 2011.
Boori's stories are about finding strength within to deal with the challenges without, and his skill is to create positive visions of the future for both Indigenous and all Australians.
Alison Lester
Alison has won many awards, including the Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book Award for Thing by Robin Klein (OUP), and Honour Book for The Journey Home (OUP).
Over her twenty-one year career she has produced such classics as the Clive Eats Alligators series, Magic Beach, Imagine and My Farm, and she also writes novels, including The Quicksand Pony and the Bonnie and Sam series with Roland Harvey.
Her picture book, Are We There Yet?, won the CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award in 2005, and Running with the Horses was an Honour Book in the 2010 CBCA Book of the Year Awards and 2010 Prime Minister's Literary Awards.
Her most recent titles include Noni the Pony, Once Small Island created in collaboration with Coral Tulloch and Sophie Scott Goes South, inspired by her travels to Antarctica and the Kids Antarctic Art Project.
Why were two Laureates chosen?
ACLA Chair Marj Osborne explains, “We are delighted to announce Alison and Boori as our joint inaugural Australian Children’s Laureates for 2012 and 2013. In them we found not one but two incredible individuals with the creative and passionate spirit we were looking for, so we made the unusual but exciting decision to appoint both.
While ACLA Board Member and illustrator Ann James says, "Alison and Boori have a lot in common ... both are storytellers, and each has generations of storytellers behind them. They share their stories in a myriad of ways – oral, performance, visual, written – and both collaborate with other artists to bring their stories alive. Both place the land as a major character in their work , and importantly, both view children as real partners in their work. They are both inspiring, creative and passionate.
Which is why they both ended up neck and neck contenders for the inaugural Australian Children's Laureate (like this year's Melbourne Cup!). Then one of us on the Board said, 'Why don't we have two Laureates?' and we all agreed. Unusual, exciting! Typically Australian to go for breaking tradition."