Our Australian Girl: Meet Lina (Book 1)

Sally Rippin was born in Darwin, but grew up mainly in South-East Asia. As a young adult she lived in China for three years, studying traditional Chinese painting. Sally has over seventy books published, many of them award-winning, including two novels for young adults. Her work includes the highly acclaimed Polly and Buster trilogy and the popular Billie B Brown and Hey Jack! books, which became the highest selling series for 6-8 year olds in Australia within the first year of their release. Sally is Australia’s highest selling female author and her books have sold more than 4.5 million copies in 14 languages.

Sally is a popular presenter in schools and at literary festivals both in Australia and overseas and has a regular program on 3RRR interviewing children’s authors and industry professionals. She is a passionate ambassador for the 100 Story Building, Dymocks Childrens’ Charities and also the Australian Reading Hour. Recently, she and Kids WB producer, Adrian Beck, have collaborated on a video series called the KidLit Club, which airs fortnightly.

Lucia Masciullo grew up in Livorno, Tuscany. She moved to Australia in 2007 and since then she has been happily working as an illustrator. She has illustrated more than 30 books, among which are the CBCA Honour Book and Prime Minister Award short-listed Come Down, Cat! by Sonya Hartnett, as well as the Our Australian Girl series, Meet Katie at the Beach by Rebecca Johnson in the Aussie Kids series, and An A to Z of Dreaming Differently by Tracey Dembo. She now lives on the Gold Coast.