Bren MacDibble (née McGregor; born 1966) is a New Zealand-born writer of children's and young adult books based in Australia. Bren also writes under the name Cally Black. She uses the alias to distinguish between books written for younger children (under the name Bren MacDibble) and books written for young adults (under the name Cally Black).

Biography

MacDibble was born in

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

, New Zealand. She was raised on farms around the central North Island of New Zealand. Bren lived in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia for 20 years and now lives on the midwest coast of Western Australia. In 2015, Bren won the Ampersand Prize with Hardie Grant Egmont for her first trade novel ''In the Dark Spaces''. This was quickly followed by her first children's trade novel ''How to Bee'' with Allen & Unwin. Both books won New Zealand Book Awards in 2018. The first time any author has picked up awards in two different categories in the same year. ''How to Bee'' picked up a

Children's Book Council of Australia The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) is a not for profit organisation which aims to engage the community with literature for young Australians. The CBCA presents the annual Children's Book of the Year Awards to books of literary merit ...

(CBCA) Book of the Year - Younger readers that same year. In 2018, Bren was awarded a Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund to research her children's novel ''The Dog Runner''.

Publications

* ''How to Bee'' (Allen & Unwin, Aus/NZ, 2017) (Old Barn Books, UK, 2018) (Groundwood Books, Can/US, 2020) ''La Deniere Abeille'' (Helium Editions, France, 2020) * ''In the Dark Spaces'' (Hardie Grant Egmont, Aus/NZ 2017) * ''The Dog Runner'' (Allen & Unwin, Aus/NZ, 2019) (Old Barn Books, UK, 2019) * ''Across the Risen Sea'' (Allen & Unwin, Aus/NZ, 2020) (Old Barn Books, UK, 2020) * ''The Raven's Song'' written with

Zana Fraillon Zana Fraillon (born 1981) is an Australian writer of fiction for children and young adults based in Melbourne, Australia. Fraillon is known for allowing young readers to examine human rights abuses within fiction and in 2017 she won an Amnesty C ...

(Allen & Unwin, Aus/NZ, 2022) (Old Barn Books, UK, 2022)

Awards

*''How to Bee'' **Winner:

New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are a series of literary awards presented annually to recognise excellence in children and young adult's literature in New Zealand. The awards began in 1982 as the New Zealand Governm ...

- Junior Fiction (the Wright Family Foundation

Esther Glen Award The Esther Glen Award, or LIANZA Esther Glen Junior Fiction Award, is the longest running and the most renowned literary award, literary prize for New Zealand children's literature. History The prize was called into being in memory of New Zeal ...

) 2018 **Winner:

(CBCA) Book of the Year 2018 - Younger readers **Winner: Patricia Wrightson Prize,

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...

, 2018 **Shortlisted: South Australian Festival Literary Prize **Shortlisted: Norma K Heming Award 2018 **Shortlisted: Aurealis Award **Shortlisted:

Ditmar Award results The Ditmar Award is Australia's oldest and best-known science fiction, fantasy and horror award, presented annually since 1969, usually at the Australian "Natcon". The historical nominations and results (listed in boldface) of the Award follo ...

2018 **Shortlisted: Book of the Year, Speech Pathology Australia **Longlisted: The North Somerset Teachers' Book Awards, UK, Moving On Category 2018 *''In the Dark Spaces'' (as Cally Black) **Winner: Ampersand Prize with Hardie Grant Egmont **Winner:

- Young Adult Fiction (the Copyright Licensing NZ Award) **Winner:

Queensland Literary Awards The Queensland Literary Awards is an awards program established in 2012 by the Queensland literary community, funded by sponsors and administered by the State Library of Queensland. Like the former Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, the QLAs ...

- Griffiths University Young Adult Book Award 2018 **Winner:

Aurealis Award for best young adult novel The Aurealis Awards are presented annually by the Australia-based Chimaera Publications and WASFF to published works to "recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy, horror writers". To qualify, a work must have been fir ...

2017 **Honour Book:

(CBCA) 2018 **Highly Commended: the Victorian Premier's Literary Prize **Shortlisted: West Australian Young Readers' Book Awards 2019 **Shortlisted: YABBAs - Fiction for Years 7-9 2019 **Shortlisted: Inky Award 2018 **Shortlisted:

2018 **Shortlisted: Ethel Turner Prize in the NSW Premiers Awards 2018 *''The Dog Runner'' **Winner:

- Junior Fiction (the Wright Family Foundation

) 2019 **Winner: Aurealis Award for Best Children's Fiction 2019 **Shortlisted: Children's Book Council of Australia, Book of the Year, Younger Readers **Shortlisted in the Readings Children's Book Prize 2020 **Nominated for the 2020 CILIP Carnegie Medal **Shortlisted: The Yabba Awards **Honour Book: The Koala Awards *''Across the Risen Sea'' **Longlisted: UK Literary Association Awards 2022 **Shortlisted: Western Australian Premier's Book Awards for Writing for Children 2020 **Shortlisted:

Aurealis Award for best children's fiction The Aurealis Awards are presented annually by the Australia-based Chimaera Publications and WASFF to published works in order to "recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy, horror writers". To qualify, a work must have ...

**Nominated for the 2021 CILIP Carnegie Medal **Shortlisted: Patricia Wrightson Prize,

, 2021 **Shortlisted: New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – Junior Fiction, 2021 **Shortlisted: Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards 2021 **A Children's Book Council of Australia Notable Book 2021 **Shortlisted: The Yabba Awards * ''The Raven's Song'' (with Zana Fraillon) ** Honour Book in the 2023 CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers ** Shortlisted:

**Shortlisted: Western Australian Premier's Book Awards for Writing for Children 2023

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:MacDibble, Bren 1966 births Living people People from Whanganui 21st-century New Zealand writers 21st-century Australian writers 21st-century New Zealand women writers 21st-century Australian women writers Australian children's writers New Zealand children's writers New Zealand women children's writers Pseudonymous women writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers