Crocodile River

Diana Lawrenson began writing at the age of seven when she discovered she could earn pocket money by having items published in the children’s pages of her local newspaper. Strangely, when she left school, a writing career never occurred to her. Instead she trained as a nurse and midwife, before leaving Australia to work in the Solomon Islands and later London. For many years she wrote for magazines and newspapers, but it was not until 1992 that her first book was published. She is the author of a number of non-fiction titles, including It’s True! Your Bones are Stronger than Concrete and It’s True! Your Hair Grows 15 Kilometres a Year as well as two picture books Pickle, the Perfectly Awful Pig and Paraphernalia’s Present. She lives in Melbourne with her husband.

Danny Snell grew up in Adelaide, and trained at the Central School of Art and the University of South Australia before graduating with a Bachelor of Design (Illustration) in 1992. His first major picture book Whose Tail Is That?, written by Christine Nicholls, was shortlisted the following year for the Children’s Book Council’s Crichton Award for first time children’s book illustrators. His second book, the best selling Bilby Moon written by Margaret Spurling, was nominated as a Notable Book for 2001 and shortlisted for the 2001 Kids Own Australian Literature Award (KOALA). Since then he has illustrated as well as The Long Way Home by Emily Rodda, Scary Bear by Tania Cox and Seadragon Sea, also written by Margaret Spurling. He lives in Adelaide with his partner Louise and his two daughters, Leilani and Daisy.