Deborah Carlyon

A former student of St Peter's Lutheran College, Deborah taught in state high schools in Queensland before becoming the founding teacher for the Noosa Pengari Steiner School. While creating children's stories at the Steiner School, Deborah completed a Diploma of Professional Children's Writing. Her ability to act as a bridge between two cultures is a wonderful gift that she has brought to schools during the last ten years of her teaching career. Deborah is widely travelled and speaks Pidgin as well as conversational Bahasa Indonesia.

In addition to her prose talents, Deborah is also an avid poet. Her poems have been published in Reflections of Tomorrow and Radiant Light magazine. Deborah performed her poetry at the Woodford Folk Festival in 2002.

Combining her ability to communicate effectively with people of all ages and nationalities, Deborah has a gift for creating children's stories and songs on the spot. As she says, "spontaneity is the lesson my students taught me".

Deborah Carlyon's first book 'Mama Kuma: One woman, two cultures' won the 2001 Qld. Premier's Literary Award. It is suitable for senior year 11 & 12 students. Her second book 'Loku and the shark attack' was short-listed for the Patricia Wrightson Prize 2007. It is suitable for year 4 students. Deborah is also a poet and artist/illustrator.