Keynote Speakers
Megan Daley
Megan Daley is passionate about children’s literature and sharing it with young and old alike. Megan is a teacher librarian at St Aidan’s Anglican Girls School in Brisbane and was recently awarded the Queensland Teacher Librarian of the Year by the School Library Association of Queensland, as well as the national Dromkeen Librarian’s Award, presented by the State Library of Victoria. A former national vice-president of the Children’s Book Council of Australia, she is actively involved in a number of kidlit associations and a judge for various literary awards.
Her website is www.childrensbooksdaily.com and her first book, ‘Raising Readers’ was published in 2019 by UQP.
Morris Gleitzman
Morris Gleitzman is a bestselling Australian children’s author and was the Australian Children's Laureate for 2018 and 2019.
His books explore serious and sometimes confronting subjects in humorous and unexpected ways. His titles include Two Weeks With The Queen, Grace, Toad Rage, Bumface, Give Peas A Chance, Extra Time, Loyal Creatures, Help Around The House and the series Once, Then, Now, After, Soon, Maybe and the forthcoming final volume Always.
Morris lives in Brisbane and Sydney, and his books are published in more than twenty countries. In 2019 he appeared on an Australia Post stamp.
Scot Gardner
Scot Gardner has been writing for young people since last century.
His books are mostly about misfits making peace with the world, death and love. He came to writing down a long winding path of careers including landscape gardening, massage and counselling, professional music, teaching, waiting tables and driving delivery trucks.
Changing Gear is his eighteenth novel in as many years and his backlist includes award-winning and internationally acclaimed books such as Burning Eddy, The Dead I Know and Sparrow. He has a bristling fascination for the natural world.
Selina Tusitala Marsh
Selina Tusitala Marsh (ONZM, FRSNZ) is the former New Zealand Poet Laureate and acclaimed performer and author. In 2019 she was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to poetry, literature and the Pacific community. This year Selina was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. She has published three critically acclaimed collections of poetry, Fast Talking PI (2009), Dark Sparring (2013), Tightrope (2017) and a new graphic memoir, Mophead (2019). An Associate Professor in the English Department at the University of Auckland, Selina teaches Creative Writing and Pacific Literature. Selina's area of research focuses on hearing silenced or marginalised indigenous poetic voices. She has performed poetry for primary schoolers and presidents (Obama), queers and Queens (HRH Elizabeth II). Selina stands on the blackstone of poetry.
Toby Morris
Illustrator, comic artist and writer Toby Morris is the author of The Spinoff’s non-fiction comic series The Side Eye.He has published two children’s books, is a regular contributor to the School Journal and is one of the collaborators of the bilingual graphic comic Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
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