Zanni sits down to catch up with Rory H Mather, Ashleigh Barton, and Amy Dunjey to learn all about their process, what they're working on, and what they're looking forward to in the coming year.
Special mention: Wild Things by Bruce Handy, a book about classic American children's books, and revisiting them as an adult.
Rory H. Mather, like most small children, enjoys a good picture book…the thing is Rory is not small, or a child, in fact he is 6ft tall (which basically means he is a giant) and recently entered his 30s (which almost certainly means he is old).
He lives in Toowoomba, Qld where his hobbies are reading, writing and table tennis – some say he could have gone pro. He is also quite partial to dogs, cake, pies and his lovely wife Georgia – although he only eats the cakes and pies.
For a time, Rory worked in public libraries where his role was delivering kidlit programs such as story time and baby rhyme time…he even got to play with some robots.
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Amy Dunjey is a children’s author with a love for all things quirky and whimsical. She writes picture books, short stories and poetry for children and has a strong hankering for rhyme.
Through her work as a speech pathologist and lecturer, Amy endeavours to pass on her love for words. Amy aspires to write stories that ignite little imaginations and instil the same love for words and adventure that she treasures.
Amy hails from Western Australia, where she lives with her husband, twin daughters and sandwich-thief greyhound.
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As a child, Ashleigh Barton would borrow ten library books at a time and decided, at precisely age six, that she wanted to be a writer. Several years, a law degree and a couple of full-time jobs later, Ashleigh has finally made her six-year-old self proud.
Now the author of the picture books What Do You Call Your Grandpa?, What Do You Call Your Grandma? and What Do You Do To Celebrate?, Ashleigh loves writing stories for children of all ages. She also works as a freelance copywriter, and prior to this worked in marketing and publicity for children's books at a major publisher, running campaigns for internationally renowned authors and illustrators.
Ashleigh lives in Sydney with her husband, dog, and three little bookworms.
Follow along!
Zanni's website
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The Sunshine House Writers and Creatives FB Group
This podcast episode is produced by Jen Pitch: @virtualcreatrix