Hey Hippopotamus, Do Babies Eat Cake Too?

Best known for There’s a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake (1980) series which is 45 this year, author Hazel Edwards, O.A.M writes books and scripts for children, YA and adults. Awarded the Australian Society of Authors’ Medal in 2009, Hazel has been nominated three times for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. She also received the Monash University Distinguished Alumni award for Education in 2022. She’s Patron of the Society of Women Writers, Victoria.

2025 is her 50th year since first being published. Her books have been translated into 10 languages. Wasted? is her latest YA, a Cli-Fic novel being considered for screen. Her audio, digital and print memoir Not Just a Piece of Cake; Being an Author is being translated into Tamil.

Illustrator Deborah Niland has submitted her portrait of Hazel for the 2025 Archibald Prize.

Visit www.hazeledwards.com for further details.

Deborah Niland has been drawing and painting all her life. She has painted for art exhibitions and galleries, and illustrated for newspapers and magazines. Most of all, she has built a successful career illustrating children's books.

Some well-known and popular titles include Mulga Bill's Bicycle, When The Wind Changed and There's a Hippopotamus On Our Roof Eating Cake and Chatterbox.

Deborah now enjoys writing and illustrating her own stories. She has had great success with Annie's Chair. This picture book, first published in 2005, has won many awards, including the 2006 Children's Book of the Year- Early Childhood, and several Children's Choice awards. Annie to the Rescue, a follow-up tale of the intrepid little girl, was published in 2007.

Now that her own children have grown up, Deborah has enjoyed spending time widening her knowledge of different illustration techniques, both traditional and digital. Other interests include doodling, fine art painting, photography, and playing with the grandchildren.