JACKIE
FRENCH
Jackie French's writing career spans fourteen
years, 38 wombats, 120 books, translations into eighteen languages,
8 genres, 3,721 bush rats, the odd award (well, actually, they're
not that odd), six possibly insane lyrebirds, assorted Burke's
Backyard segments, radio shows, newspaper and magazine columns,
theories of pest and weed ecology and 27 shredded back doormats.
The doormats are the victims of the wombats, who require constant
appeasement in the form of carrots, rolled oats and wombat
nuts, which is one of the reasons for her prolific output ...
it pays the carrot bills.
Jackie wrote
her first children's book Rainstones in a desperate
attempt to earn $106.40 to register her car, while living in
a shed with a wallaby called Fred, a black snake called Gladys
and a wombat called Smudge. It was described by the editor at
HarperCollins as the messiest, worst spelt manuscript they'd
ever received. The 'messiest' was due to Smudge the wombat, who
left his droppings on the typewriter every night; the spelling
was due to the fact she is dyslexic. She recommends that all
fledgling writers misspell their first book with a wombat damaged
typewriter - at least that way it stands out of the pile!
    
Jackie is
one of the few writers to win both literary and children's choice
awards. Hitler's Daughter won the 2000 CBC Book
of the Year for Younger Readers, the UK Wow! Award and has been
listed as a 'blue ribbon' book in the USA. Other awards include
an Aurealis (scifi) Award for Cafe on Callisto and
ACT Book of the Year for In the Blood.
Jackie's loves
include wombats, the bush plants and gardening. She and her husband
run an experimental farm which includes growing Australia's largest
collection of different fruits in a self sustaining system that
takes about ten minutes work a week. Jackie also has a deep fascination
with history (which is evident in many of her novels) and is
currently working on an eight volume history of Australia, starting
at 60,000 BC.
The true story
of the stroppy wombat who lives under Jackie's bedroom, Diary
of a Wombat (illustrated by Bruce Whatley), has become
Australia's most awarded children's book - and broke all picture
book publishing records for the number of copies sold in its
first year! Among the many awards received for Dairy
of a Wombat are: 2003 Koala Award, 2003 Yara Award,
2003 Cool Award, 'Best Picture book' and 'Funniest Book' 2003
in the US Cuffie awards, Best Picture book in the US Publisher's
Awards, the 2003 ABA/ Neilson Data Book of the Year and a 2003
CBCA Honour Book listing. Diary of a Wombat is
now galloping across the rest of the world, while Jackie and
Bruce have continued their successful collaboration with two
more picture books, Too Many Pears! and most
recently, Pete the Sheep.
 
  
Jackie's latest
books include A War for Gentlemen (an historical
novel for adults) Rocket Your Child into Reading (a
book on learning difficulties, and how to get all kids reading), To
the Moon and Back (a history of Australia and the journey
to the moon, written with her husband Bryan Sullivan), Tom
Appleby, Convict Boy, My Dad the Dragon, My Uncle Gus the Garden
Gnome, and Pete the Sheep (illustrated
by Bruce Whatley).
To come in
2005: They Came in Viking Ships (the lost story
of Freydis Eric's daughter), The Secret World of Wombats, My
Uncle Wal the Werewolf, and the first two volumes of
the Australian history series, Founders and Navigators,
and Convicts and Conflicts.
More information
is available at the HarperCollins
website and at Jackie's
website.
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