The Chewing-Gum Kid

In addition to being a very popular children's author, Bruce Dawe is also one of the biggest selling and most highly regarded of Australian poets. Known as the Poet of Suburbia, he lives an unconventionally conventional life. He grew up in a household where his father, a farm labourer, was often unemployed and often absent from home. His rather eccentric mother longed for the kind of stability and success in life that circumstances always denied her. Bruce drifted through his early years showing promise as a writer but finding little direction for his life. The variety of his many occupations – labourer, postman, university failure, air force officer, father and teacher – has served to give Bruce extraordinary empathy with people from all backgrounds, which characterises his poetry and gives a voice to so-called ordinary Australians.

Stig Wemyss is Australia’s most loved audiobook narrator for children and young adults. He has lent his voice to the work of some of Australia’s most accomplished authors, including Andy Griffiths, Paul Jennings, Tim Winton, Marcus Zusak, Margaret Clarke and, most recently, Andrew Daddo. For the last three years he has been the recipient of the ABIA audiobook of the year award, including for the Trent Dalton's widely acclaimed debut novel Boy Swallows Universe. Stig has also written his own successful audiobook series entitled, The Tripp Diaries, which he narrates himself. His success and popularity have led him to develop a one-man comedy show for kids, Stig Live @ The Library, which he has performed in schools and libraries around Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.