There's a Chicken in the House

Sonya Hartnett's work has won numerous Australian and international literary prizes and has been published around the world. Uniquely, she is acclaimed for her stories for adults, young adults and children. Her accolades include the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Of A Boy), The Age Book of the Year (Of A Boy), the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (Thursday's Child), the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for both Older and Younger Readers (Forest, The Silver Donkey, The Ghost's Child, The Midnight Zoo and The Children of the King), the Victorian Premier's Literary Award (Surrender), shortlistings for the Miles Franklin Award (for both Of a Boy and Butterfly) and the CILP Carnegie Medal (The Midnight Zoo). Hartnett is also the first Australian recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (2008). Golden Boys, Sonya’s third novel for adults, was shortlisted for the 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award. She also published her fourth picture book, Blue Flower, illustrated by Gabriel Evans, in 2021 and it was shortlisted for the CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award.

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.