We are privileged to have a special group of Christian Children's Authors who love to support each other and support Christian school libraries. Here's a quick look at who will be visiting us at Conference in 2020.

Kat Colmer, Sydney based teacher librarian and young adult of The Third Kiss and Can't Beat the Chemistry, writes coming-of-age stories with humour and heart. She loves working with teens and can't wait to introduce them to her third young adult novel, Remind Me Why I’m Here, out mid 2020 with Rhiza Edge.

Penny Morrison is a picture book author from Sydney. She is an experienced early childhood teacher who loves every opportunity to promote the joy of reading. Her books include Captain Sneer, the Buccaneer, Hey! Is that how God made me?, The Mighty Mighty King Christmas Book and A Perfect Little Monster. 

Cecily Paterson is the author of 'braveheart' fiction for girls, focusing on friendships, school life and growing up. After 10 years living and writing in Kangaroo Valley, Cecily is now based in the Northern Beaches of Sydney with her family.

Penny Reeve is a western Sydney based author of books for children and older readers. From YA novels to picture books, her books strive to find beauty, hope, strength and love even in the toughest of settings. (She also writes as Penny Jaye).

Katrina Roe is an author and radio broadcaster.  Her picture books have been shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Book of the Year, CBCA Notables and the Caleb Prize.  Her latest book, Lily’s Balloon won the Caleb Prize for Picture Books in 2019.  It features gorgeous illustrations by Helene Magisson.  

Alison Smallwood lives in Sydney with her husband and two children. She holds a Bachelor of Design in Visual Communications and has worked as an animator, illustrator and art director for over 25 years. Forgiven is her first picture book.

Debra Tidball is the author of award-winning The Scared Book and When I See Grandma. She has a particular passion for picture books - she believes they are for everyone! Debra reviews kid's books on Sydney radio 103.2 and interviews authors on the Just Write For Kids blog.

Aleesah Darlison has written over fifty books for children and has won or been shortlisted for numerous awards including the Environment Award for Children’s Literature, the CBCA Awards, and the Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards. Her specialty areas are picture books, chapter books, junior fiction, and series. Many of Aleesah’s books feature humour or champion the cause of animals, the environment, and child self-empowerment. Her books include Warambi, Our Class Tiger, the Unicorn Riders Series, and Emerald: The Green Turtle’s Tale. 2020 is the Year of the Llama for Aleesah as she shares her hilarious new children’s series, League of Llamas (aka LOL), which features a team of llama secret agents embarking on dangerous missions to protect their country, the Llama Republic.

Cass Pendlebury B.A Dip. Ed (Macquarie), MLM Ed (Newcastle) has been the NSW/ACT EO for Christian Schools Australia (CSA) since January 2014. 

She has responsibility for supporting 42 schools in NSW and the ACT.  Cass’s role includes; coordination of State Council and associated regional forums, professional development for leaders and teachers, advocacy for Christian Schools in NSW and the ACT including representation on a number of government committees, coordination of the CSA Child Protection Support Service, management of the Endorsed Provider of Continuous Professional Development status for CSA in NSW, coordination of NESA Board and Governance training for school boards, liaison with all schools from Executive to teaching levels and events management and design for all CSA NSW/ACT Events.

Cass also has a national portfolio for Curriculum and has been an integral part of the CSA Gods Big Story curriculum framework and its development over the past 5 years.  She is coordinating the symposia with Christian Heritage College as CSA works through the development of resources for key faculty areas in line with the Australian Curriculum and NSW Syllabi.

Cass is commencing a PHD in Spiritual Wellbeing and Authentic Leadership through Avondale University College.

Prior to joining CSA, Cass was a teacher and executive in Christian Schools for 10 years.  She previously had a 25-year career in Management and HR Consulting with an impressive list of international clients from banking and finance to construction, pharmaceuticals and resources.  Her specialisations were in Leadership Development, Succession Planning, HRM Consulting, Performance Management and Training.

Cass is passionate about developing and supporting leaders and teachers in Christian Education.

Kat Colmer is a Sydney-based author and teacher librarian who writes coming-of-age stories with humour and heart. Her debut novel The Third Kiss was published by Entangled Teen (2017) and her second young adult novel Can’t Beat the Chemistry was released by Australian publisher Rhiza Edge (2019).

Kat has a Diploma of Education with a Masters in Teacher Librarianship and loves working with teens. Having spent a significant portion of her childhood in Germany, Kat speaks fluent German and is looking forward to the day she’ll be able to read one of her novels in Deutsch. When not writing, teaching or reading the latest in YA fiction, Kat spends time with her husband and two teen children.

Her next young adult novel, Remind Me Why I’m Here, is out mid 2020 with Rhiza Edge.

Kerry is a nationally certified Highly Accomplished Teacher Librarian with Professional Excellence Accreditation. In 2018 she was appointed Head of Library Services at Toongabbie Christian College in Sydney. Since arriving at the College, Kerry and her Library Team have transformed the Library into a beautifully appointed learning space where students love to come to relax, read, research and learn. Kerry is currently Vice President of the Australian School Library Association (ASLA) and has been an active member of the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL) since 2005. She has presented at local, national and international conferences over many years and has been a Teacher and Teacher Librarian in State, Christian and Independent schools during her professional career. Kerry is energised by new evidence-based initiatives in teaching and learning and enjoys sharing her knowledge, skills and experiences with colleagues across the world. She is passionate about encouraging Teacher Librarians and Library staff across Australia to thrive in their roles enabling us to greatly influence and highly impact the learning cultures of our schools.

Paul is the owner of the Children’s Bookshop in Beecroft. Paul has a Master of Education, working almost 20 years as a teacher of Upper Primary and Secondary. He has won numerous awards in teaching such as a Quality Teacher Award in 2002, The Premier’s English Scholarship in 2004 and awards for his co-ordination of Regional Shakespearean Festivals. His interests include the development of literacy with a particular interest in reading for gifted children, Boys’ Literacy and books for adolescents.

In 2012 Paul was awarded the School Library Association of NSW's  Maurice Saxby Award for his commitment to and  contribution to children's literature. In 2016, Paul received the Lady Cutler Award for his passionate commitment to children's literature.

www.thechildrensbookshop.com.au

Phillip is Principal of Green Point Christian College, a K-12 school of just under 1000 students on the Central Coast of NSW. He has spent almost 30 years in Christian schooling in New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia and has a passion for the  impact a Biblical perspective makes on a student’s perception of themselves and their future. Phillip is a committed reader of books, blogs and is active on Twitter and LinkedIn. He sees libraries as central to fostering  a love of literacy and research skills in students and has had the privilege of being involved in the renovation and upgrade of three libraries in his time in school leadership.  He has been married to Raema for 36 years and has three children and two grandchildren with another on the way.