Jackie French AM is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator, the 2014–2015 Australian Children's Laureate and the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year. In 2016 Jackie became a Member of the Order of Australia for her contribution to children's literature and her advocacy for youth literacy. She is regarded as one of Australia's most popular children's authors and writes across all genres — from picture books, history, fantasy, ecology and sci-fi to her much loved historical fiction for a variety of age groups. ‘A book can change a child's life. A book can change the world' was the primary philosophy behind Jackie's two-year term as Laureate. jackiefrench.com facebook.com/authorjackiefrench Anne Spudvilas is a multi-award-winning illustrator of children's books and an established portrait painter and printmaker. Her first picture book, The Race by Christobel Mattingley, was awarded the Crichton Award for Illustration and was a CBCA Honour Book. Her bestselling books include The Peasant Prince by Li Cunxin, which won the NSW and Queensland Premiers' Awards in 2008 and Jenny Angel by Margaret Wild which was CBCA Picture Book of the Year in 2000. Anne's move to the Murray River has inspired her latest book, an illustrated retelling of the classic ballet story Swan Lake. Anne lives in Wentworth, where the Murray and Darling rivers meet, surrounded by birds and river red gums.