Aussie Kids: Meet Matilda at the Festival

Jacqueline de Rose-Ahern is an international award-winning author who adores exploring all the world has to offer! Her appreciation of travel and uniqueness of culture has been captured in the pages of her books. Jacqueline was the recipient of the ACT Writers Centre 2017 Anne Edgeworth Fellowship. Her books have been recognised for a number of awards within Australia and internationally, including winning the travel category of the 2020 American Book Excellence Awards and being shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards in 2017 and 2019. Jacqueline regularly contributes to a variety of online platforms and has appeared at several literary events, including the Canberra Writers Festival, the Goulburn Reader Writer Festival, NSW Kids & YA Festival and the Noted Writers Festival. Jacqueline endeavours to encourage her readers to learn more about the world, supporting an empathetic and inclusive community. She currently resides in Canberra, holds a Masters in International Development and works in international affairs. Jacqueline is the founder of the Story Creators Community, assisting aspiring creatives on their creative journey.

If she could, Tania McCartney would live inside a book, and as an author, illustrator and editor – she kind of already does. Tania has over 30 years’ experience in books, magazines and publishing, and has over 50 books in print or production. In 2013, she reconnected with her love of illustration, and has gone on to produce several illustrated maps and books, including Mamie, a picture book on the life of May Gibbs (HarperCollins), Fauna (National Library Publishing), I Heart the World (Hardie Grant Travel) and junior fiction series Evie and Pog (HarperCollins). The founder of Kids’ Book Review and The Happy Book podcast, Tania has received various awards including several CBCA Notable books, the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for Australia/New Zealand, and the CBCA Laurie Copping Award for Distinguished Service to Children’s Literature. An ambassador for the Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge (ACT), she is a fierce advocate for juvenile literacy. Tania has lived in France, England and China, and currently lives in Canberra with her family, a forest of artwork and a mountain of books.