The Puppet

Adelaide writer Ian Bone has an extensive, award-winning background in children’s television, producing drama and situation comedy. He began writing Young Adult and children’s literature while at the ABC and has had a number of books published. His previous Lothian Books are the critically acclaimed ‘Fat Boy Saves World’, CBC Notable Book of 1999, ‘The Puppet’ in the After Dark series, his humorous Takeaways novel, ‘Spy Babies’, ‘Killer Plot’ in the Crime Waves series and the powerful YA novel, ‘Tin Soldiers’ which is shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literature Awards.

Shaun Tan was born in 1974 and grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. In school he became known as the ‘good drawer’ which partly compensated for always being the shortest kid in every class. He graduated from the University of WA in 1995 with joint honours in Fine Arts and English Literature, and currently works full time as a freelance artist and author in Melbourne. Shaun began drawing and painting images for science fiction and horror stories in small-press magazines as a teenager, and has since become best known for illustrated books that deal with social, political and historical subjects through surreal, dream-like imagery. Shaun has also worked as a theatre designer, and worked as a concept artist for the films Horton Hears a Who and Pixar’s WALL-E. He is currently directing a short film with Passion Pictures Australia.