Kookaburra

About the Author

Claire Saxby lives in Melbourne, Australia and loves her city. She is the bestselling and award-winning author of many books. There Was an Old Sailor (illustrated by Cassandra Allen) won the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Crystal Kite Award. Big Red Kangaroo and Emu (both illustrated by Graham Byrne) and Koala (illustrated by Julie Vivas) have won numerous awards including the Whitley Award, the Environment Award for Children's Literature, and Children's Book council of Australia (CBCA) Crichton Award. Koala was a CBCA Honour Book. Dingo (illustrated by Tannya Harricks was joint winner of the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature at the NSW Premier's Literary Award (2019); won the Royal Zoological Society of NSW's Whitley Award (2018); was shortlisted in 2019 for the CBCA New Illustrator Award, and Best Picture Book in the Educational Publishing awards. Kookaburra is a second collaboration between Claire and Tannya Harricks.


Tannya Harricks’s award-winning art practice draws on her experience in graphic design, illustration, life drawing and textile design. Her oil paintings, for which she has been awarded the Waverley and Hornsby Art Prizes, have been exhibited in Sydney, New Zealand and Florence. She has also been a finalist in many prominent Australian art awards including the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, Gallipoli Art Prize and the Gold Coast Art Prize. She has previously illustrated Dingo by Claire Saxby and Mallee Sky by Jodi Toering for the Walker Books list. Dingo was joint winner of the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature at the NSW Premier’s Literary Award (2019); won the Royal Zoological Society of NSW’s Whitley Award (2018); and was shortlisted in 2019 for the CBCA New Illustrator Award, and for Best Picture Book in the Educational Publishing Awards.