John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat

Jenny Wagner

Jenny Wagner lives with her husband, their dog and three lazy cats in a small Queensland farmhouse that looks like a witch’s cottage. The garden is full of possums, lizards, goannas, frogs, scrub turkeys and other birds. Sometimes a couple of wallabies come to visit, too.

Jenny likes writing best of all, unless it’s going badly, in which case she hates it. She also likes going for walks, listening to classical music, studying languages, doing cryptic crossword puzzles, getting together with friends and putting off the vacuuming.

She likes two-minutes noodles with tomato paste stirred in, brussels sprouts and good coffee.

She doesn’t like racism, cruelty to animals or people, or getting up early.

As well as her best-selling novels featuring the nimbin, Jenny Wagner has also written several very successful children’s picture books.

The Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek and John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat both won the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Ward (Picture Books) and are widely considered to be classics.

Ron Brooks

Ron Brooks spent his childhood in Mallacoota, Victoria. Now he writes, designs and illustrates picture books for kids. He has made many books over the thirty or so years he has been working, has won many awards, including the Children’s Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year Award (three times) and is published in many languages around the world. Two of his earlier books, The Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek and John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat, both written by Jenny Wagner, are widely recognised as the books which introduced Australian picture books onto the world scene. Two of his more recent books, and perhaps his own personal favourites, are Old Pig and Fox, both written by Margaret Wild. He has also been a teacher, and he paints, sculpts, and does a bit of printmaking.