Jane Godwin

Godwin has a great voice; deft, light and rich.
Dianne Dempsey, The Age

Jane Godwin is the highly acclaimed author of many books for children.

In 2000 she won the Queensland Premier's Award (Children's Books) for The Family Tree, which was also shortlisted for the WAYRA and listed in the 1999 NSW Family Therapy Award for Children's Books.

In addition, Sebby, Stee, the Garbos and Me, published in the Puffin Aussie Bites series, was shortlisted for the 1999 NSW State Literary Award (Patricia Wrightson Prize) and was a YABBA finalist. Jane's other books include other Aussie Bites and Aussie Nibbles titles, as well as two picture books: Millie Starts School (illustrated by David Cox) and Dreaming of Antarctica (illustrated by Terry Denton). Jane's most recent novel is Minnie and the Super Guys, published in 2004.

Jane is currently working on a sequel to Minnie and the Super Guys, part of which is set in Harbin, a city in northern China. Upcoming publications also include a picture book called When Elephants Lived in the Sea and a novel for teenagers set a Point Nepean on the Victorian Mornington Peninsula. It will be called Falling from Grace.

Prior to becoming a writer, Jane worked for Penguin Books as a Senior Editor in the Books for Children and Young Adults department. In this role, she edited many award-winning titles from picture books to Young Adult novels. She has also worked marketing children's books and, in another former life, in the television industry.

As well as being an author, Jane enjoys working creatively with students of all ages. It is her aim to help stimulate and encourage children and to help them develop confidence in their own ideas and abilities.

Jane lives in Melbourne with her family.

The sort of book that gives Australian history a touch of magic
and to which young fans will want to return time and again.
Magpies Magazine

A charming and utterly convincing romp of a tale.
Agnes Nieuwenhuizen