Lisa Shanahan
Lisa Shanahan is an award-winning writer of picture books and novels for young people. Some of her funny, heartfelt books include The Grand, Genius Summer of Henry Hoobler, which received the 2017 Queensland Literary Award for Children’s Fiction, the 2018 Speech Pathology Book of the Year for 8–12-year-olds and was shortlisted in the 2018 CBCA Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers. Her picture book, Bear and Chook by the Sea (ill. Emma Quay) won the CBCA Book of the Year for Early Childhood in 2010 and Hark, It’s Me, Ruby Lee! (ill. Binny Talib) was a 2018 CBCA Honour Book of the Year for Early Childhood and was also shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards for Children’s Fiction. Her novel for teenagers, My Big Birkett was published to critical acclaim in Australia, where it was shortlisted for the 2007 CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers and in the United States, where it was a 2008 New York Public Library Best Book for the Teen Age. Her most recent picture book, Hello World (ill. Leila Rudge) won the 2022 Speech Pathology Book of the Year for Birth-3-year-olds. Lisa relishes writing for young people and is incredibly grateful to be doing what she loves.