Surprise at the End of Onkaparinga Lane

About the Author

Rhiân Williams has been telling and collecting stories her whole life. She started first by writing poetry and in her teens won the Queensland Eisteddfod Open Poetry prize. After finishing school she worked on boats that travelled the Great Barrier Reef where she gained an enduring love of the ocean and a desire to capture the beauty of the ever-disappearing natural world in her writing.
Rhiân spent 3 and a half years editing a community newspaper which captured the minutiae of life in a small rural community and supported people to tell the stories that mattered to them. Through that she learned to embrace the power of writing to a deadline and for the broadest of audiences. Through her work as mediator with groups as diverse as soldiers in the Australian army, farmers in struggling rural communities and Aboriginal people in remote communities she learnt that story matters everywhere, as does having your story listened to and cared about.
As a writer and a reader Rhian’s love is language and stories that connect us to ourselves and others. She believes that children’s stories matter because they launch a child on a lifelong love of reading that will make them laugh and wonder and believe. Rhiân strives to tell stories that grow richer each time they are told and she believes that writing – just like reading – is a voyage of discovery where following your imagination means adventures are guaranteed!

Martina Heiduczek grew up in a small village on the Baltic Sea in Germany. Here you could find her mostly galloping through the forests with flying piggy tails on her Shetland pony, drawing or reading. She studied illustration and graphic design in Hamburg. These days she is living with her family on the Gold Coast, Australia, creating illustrations that are quirky, poetic at times, textured and mostly colourful.