Elizabeth Madden HoneyHer first name in German-language publications is usually given as "Elisabeth" (e.g
Amazon
(born 7 February 1947) is an Australian children's author, illustrator and poet, best known for her picture books and middle-grade novels. Her books have been published internationally. She lives in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, Melbourne. In 1997, she won the Children's Book of the Year Award: Picture Book for ''Not a Nibble''. She also received the

Prize Cento The Children's Literature Prize "Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cento" is an international competition aimed at authors of children's books (elementary and middle school) in Italian, original or translated. Origins The Prize Cento was establish ...

and the Young Australians Best Book Award (YABBA) for ''45 & 47 Stella Street and everything that Happened''. In 2001, she was the recipient of the Australian Wilderness Society Environment Award for Children's Literature.

Life and career

Honey was born in the coal mining town of

Wonthaggi Wonthaggi is a seaside town located south east of Melbourne via the South Gippsland and Bass Highways, in the Bass Coast Shire of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. Known originally for its coal mining, it is now the largest town in South Gippsl ...

Gippsland Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. She grew up on a dairy farm, the third in a family of four. A sickly child she became an avid reader. After the family moved to a farm near Geelong she attended high school at

Morongo Girls' College Morongo Girls' College was a Presbyterian school for girls, founded in 1920 on Bell Post Hill near Geelong, Australia, on the site of an original homestead (called ''Morongo''). The founding principal was Gertrude Pratt BA, the second princip ...

. In Melbourne, Honey studied art at Swinburne Technical College, where she was in the second intake at Australia’s first film school.

‘The predominate traits shared by the students were artistic talent, youth and high spirits, and boundless confidence and optimism. It was the ‘Swinging Sixties’ after all and art students were in the vanguard of taste, fashion and ideas…’

The mix of characters and talents at Swinburne had a profound influence on Honey, and the unstructured nature of the course which gave students the licence to experiment. They absorbed films from around the world at the Melbourne Film Festival and staged the student revues ‘Braindrops’ and ‘68mm’.

‘They eat, sleep and drink the revue, with an intensity that is almost alarming.’ Laurie Pendlebury, Head of Swinburne Art School

Honey worked briefly at the ABC Channel 2, then in film,

The Naked Bunyip ''The Naked Bunyip'' is a 1970 Australian documentary film directed by John B. Murray. The film explores sex in Australia using a fictional framework. Synopsis ''The Naked Bunyip'' is a sex documentary and a blend of fact and fiction; " tincorpo ...

and

The Adventures of Barry McKenzie ''The Adventures of Barry McKenzie'' is a 1972 Australian comedy film directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Barry Crocker, telling the story of an Australian 'yobbo' on his travels to the United Kingdom. Barry McKenzie was originally a chara ...

, advertising at W J Haysom then George Patterson, followed by extensive travel. Honey began work as a freelance illustrator, her commissions including drawings for newspapers,

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

and

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

, and stamps for

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post o ...

. From 1976 to 1986 she published a calendar of illustrations, but found children's book illustration the most rewarding work. In 1988, ''Princess Beatrice and the Rotten Robber'' was published, her first book as both author and illustrator. Publisher, Rosalind Price at

Allen and Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...

encouraged her work and ‘she has since become an iconic voice in Australian children's literature, going on to write and illustrate a breadth of award-winning children's novels, poetry collections, as well as picture books for children of all ages. She is known for writing that is "characteristically humorous and inventive, and features outspoken characters”. Honey draws on family life, evident in her first poetry book Honey Sandwich.

Looking for my sandals. Looking for my hat. I spend all my life doing that.

In 1995 her first novel ''45 + 47 Stella Street and everything that happened'' was published. It was translated into many languages and became the first in a series, the most recent ''From Stella Street to Amsterdam'', was published in 2020, twenty five years after the first book.

Works

Picture books

*''Princess Beatrice and the Rotten Robber'' (1988) *''The Cherry Dress'' (1993) *''Not a Nibble!'' (1996) *''The Moon in the Man'' (2003) *''I'm Still Awake, Still!'' (2008) *''That's not a Daffodil!'' (2011) *''Ten Blue Wrens: And What a Lot of Wattle!'' (2011) *''Hop Up! Wriggle Over!'' (2015)

Poetry

*''Honey Sandwich'' (1993) *''Mongrel Doggerel'' (1998) *''The Moon in the Man'' (2003)

Novels

*''Don't Pat the Wombat!'', illustrated by Gig Clarke (1996) *''What Do You Think, Feezal?'' (1997) *''Remote Man'' (2000)

''Stella Street'' series

*''45 + 47 Stella Street and Everything that Happened'' (1995) *''Fiddle-back'' (1998) *''The Ballad of Cauldron Bay'' (2004) *''To the Boy in Berlin'' with Heike Brandt (2007) *''From Stella Street to Amsterdam'' (2020)

Activity books

*''The Book of Little Books'' (1994)

Collaborations

*''Energy for Kids'' with Gilbert Tippett (1986) *''Trees for Kids'' with Ian Edwards (1998) *''To the Boy in Berlin'' with Heike Brandt (2007) *''Our Island'' with the children of Gununa,

Mornington Island Mornington Island, also known as Kunhanhaa, is an island in the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Shire of Mornington (Queensland), Shire of Mornington, Queensland, Australia. It is the northernmost and largest of 22 islands that form the Wellesley I ...

, and

Alison Lester Alison Jean Lester (born 17 November 1952) is an Australian author and illustrator who has published over 25 children's picture books and two young adult novels; ''The Quickstand Pony'' and ''The Snow Pony''. In 2005 Lester won the Children's ...

(2014) *''I'm Still Awake, Still!'' with composer Sue Johnson (2008)

Works as illustrator

* ''S.C.A.B.'', by Manny Clarke (1975) * ''The Twenty-Seventh Annual African Hippopotamus Race'', by

Morris Lurie Moses "Morris" Lurie (30 October 19388 October 2014) was an Australian writer of comic novels, short stories, essays, plays, and children's books. His work focused on the comic mishaps of Jewish-Australian men (often writers) of Lurie's generati ...

(1977) * ''Puzzles Galore!'', by Meryl Brown Tobin (1978) * ''Snakes Alive!'', by Maureen Stewart (1978) * ''So What's New?'', by Bettina Bird (1978) * ''Gone Children'', by Phyllis Harry (1978) * ''Gino and Dan'', by Carolyn Marrone (1979) * ''Us Three Kids'', by Bettina Bird (1979) * ''Call It Quits'', by Bettina Bird (1979) * ''Fame and Misfortune'', by John Jones (1979) * ''Feel, Value, Act'', by Laurie Brady (1979) * ''Growing things: Nature Study Ideas for the Primary School'', by Brian McKinlay (1979) * ''Mexican Beans'', by L. M. Napier (1980) * ''All Change at the Station'', by Susan Burke (1980) * ''Barney, Boofer, and the Cricket Bat'', by Judith Worthy (1980) * ''More Puzzles Galore!'', by Meryl Brown Tobin (1980) * ''Themes through the Year'', by Cathy Hope (1981) * ''The Tucker Book'', by Jessie Apted (1981) * ''Salt River Times'', by

William Mayne William James Carter Mayne (16 March 1928 – 24 March 2010) was an English people, English writer of children's fiction. ''The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature'' calls him one of the outstanding children's authors of the 20th century and ...

(1982) * ''Flora's Treasures'', by Ted Greenwood (1982) * ''Brave with Ben'', by

Christobel Mattingley Christobel Rosemary Mattingley (1931 – 1 June 2019) was an award-winning Australian author of books for children and adults. Her book ''Rummage'' won the Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers and Children's Book of the Year Aw ...

(1982) * ''History Alive: Introducing Children to History around Them'', by Brian McKinlay (1983) * ''Melissa's Ghost'', by Michael Dugan (poet) (1986) * ''Boiler at Breakfast Creek'', by Roger Vaughan Carr (1986) * ''The Prize'', by Helen Higgs (1986) * ''I Don't Want to Know: Towards a Healthy Adolescence'', by Ted Greenwood (1986) * ''Outdoors for Kids'', by Brian McKinlay (1987) * ''Oh No! Not Again'', by Linda Allen (1989) * ''Dream Time: New Stories by Sixteen Award-Winning Authors'', edited by Toss Gascoigne, Jo Goodman and Margot Terrell (1991) * ''No Gun for Asmir'', by

(1993) * ''Asmir in Vienna'', by

(1995)

Theatre

''Mr Bleak and the Etryop'' premiered at the Melbourne Comedy Festival (2007). It told the story of confused Mr Bleak, who in his drive for productivity, discovers poetry after the intervention of exuberant schoolchildren. The play toured Victoria in 2008. A musical theatre production of ''I'm Still Awake, Still!'', inspired by the songs by Honey and Sue Johnson, directed by Jessica Wilson, premiered at the Melbourne Arts Centre in 2011, and toured the US and Australia in 2014.

review noted ''"..the clever blend of comedy and song, which celebrates in the zaniest possible way the playfulness of children, while giving them a rather sophisticated glimpse into the world of music."'' A theatrical adaptation of ''That's not a Daffodil'', adapted from the book by Honey with Görkem Acaroglu premiered in Melbourne in 2015, before going on to tour Victoria in 2017. It tells the story of a young boy who is given a daffodil bulb by the old Turkish gardener next door.

Awards and honours

1994 * Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers, Honour Book for ''Honey Sandwich'' 1996 * Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers, Honour Book for ''45 & 47 Stella Street and everything that happened'' *

Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature The Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature comprise a group of biennially-granted literary awards established in 1986 by the Government of South Australia, announced during Adelaide Writers' Week, as part of the Adelaide Festival. The awards i ...

, National Children's Literature Award shortlist for ''45 & 47 Stella Street and everything that happened'' 1997 * Children's Book of the Year Award: Picture Book for ''Not a Nibble'' *

for Children's Literature (Italy) for ''45 & 47 Stella Street and everything that happened'' * Young Australians Best Book Awards (YABBA) Victoria: Children's Choice Award – Fiction for Older Readers for ''45 & 47 Stella Street and everything that happened'' * Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers, Honour Book for ''Don't Pat The Wombat!'' * Children Reading Outstanding Writers (CROW) South Australia: Children's Choice Award – years 3–5 for ''Don't Pat The Wombat!'' 1998 *

COOL Award The COOL Awards is an annual children's choice award voted on by students in Canberra, the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Children are encouraged to read and vote for their favourite books. The votes are tallied and the awards made. ...

, Fiction for Older Readers shortlist for ''45 & 47 Stella Street and everything that happened'' *

, Fiction for Older Readers shortlist for ''Don't Pat The Wombat!'' 1999 * Kids Own Australian Literature Awards (KOALA) New South Wales: Children's Choice Award finalist for ''Not a Nibble'' and ''45 & 47 Stella Street and everything that happened'' *

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 ...

shortlist for ''What do you think, Feezal?'' 2000 * Kids Own Australian Literature Awards (KOALA) New South Wales: Children's Choice Award finalist for ''Not a Nibble'' * Young Australians Best Book Awards (YABBA) Victoria: Children's Choice Awards shortlist for ''Honey Sandwich'' * Kids Own Australian Literature Awards (KOALA) New South Wales: Children's Choice Award finalist for ''45 & 47 Stella Street and everything that happened'' * West Australian Young Readers' Book Award (WAYRBA), shortlist for ''Fiddle-back'' * Kids Own Australian Literature Awards (KOALA) New South Wales: Children's Choice Award shortlist for ''Don't Pat The Wombat!'' *

, National Children's Literature Award shortlist for ''What do you think, Feezal?'' 2001 *

The Wilderness Society (Australia) The Wilderness Society is an Australian, community-based, not-for-profit non-governmental environmental advocacy organisation. Its vision is to "transform Australia into a society that protects, respects and connects with the natural world that ...

Environment Award for Children's Literature for ''Remote Man'' * Young Australians Best Book Awards (YABBA) Victoria: Children's Choice Awards shortlist for ''Don't Pat The Wombat!'' * West Australian Young Readers' Book Award (WAYRBA), shortlist for ''What do you think, Feezal?'' 2002 * West Australian Young Readers' Book Award (WAYRBA), shortlist for ''Remote Man'' 2003 * Children's Book of the Year Award: Early Childhood, Notable Book for ''The Moon in the Man'' *

APRA Music Awards of 2003 The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2003 (generally known as APRA Awards) are a series of awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Classical Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards were presented by ...

: Most Performed Jazz Work, Nominated with Susan Johnson and

Coco's Lunch Coco's Lunch is an ''a cappella'' musical group based in Melbourne, Australia. The group was founded in 1994 by vocalists and multi-instrumentalists Lisa Young (voice, percussion) and Sue Johnson (voice, percussion), with Nicola Eveleigh (voice ...

for "All the Wild Wonders", a poem adapted to song from ''The Moon in the Man'' *

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis The (German Youth Literature Award) is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's and young adult literature. It is Germany's only ...

(German Youth Literature Prize): Kinderbuch (Children's book) section shortlist for ''Remote Man'', German title: ''Salamander I'm Netz'' * Selection to the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

Books for the Teen Age List for ''Remote Man'' 2005 * Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers, Notable Book for ''The Ballad of Cauldron Bay'' * Australian Psychological Society: Children's Peace Literature Award, shortlist for ''The Ballad of Cauldron Bay'' 2008 * Australian Publishers Design Awards: Best Designed Book for Young Adults for ''To the Boy in Berlin'' with Heike Brandt * Selection to The White Ravens Catalog of the

International Youth Library The International Youth Library (IYL) (, IJB) in Munich is a library that specializes in the collection of children and youth literature from around the world in order to make them available to the public, focusing on the international community. ...

in Munich, for ''To the Boy in Berlin'' with Heike Brandt 2009 *

Speech Pathology Australia Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) is the national peak body for the speech pathology profession in Australia. History of the association Established in 1949, SPA began as the Australian College of Speech Therapists, set up to regulate and mainta ...

Book of the Year Award: Young Children's shortlist for ''I'm still awake, still!'' * West Australian Young Readers' Book Award (WAYRBA), shortlist for ''To the Boy in Berlin'' with Heike Brandt 2012 * Children's Book of the Year Award: Early Childhood, Honour Book for ''That's not a daffodil!'' * Children's Book of the Year Award: Early Childhood, Notable Book for ''Ten Blue Wrens and what a lot of wattle!'' *

Prime Minister's Literary Awards The Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards (PMLA) were announced at the end of 2007 by the incoming First Rudd ministry following the 2007 election. They are administered by the Minister for the Arts.Speech Pathology Australia Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) is the national peak body for the speech pathology profession in Australia. History of the association Established in 1949, SPA began as the Australian College of Speech Therapists, set up to regulate and mainta ...

Book of the Year Award: Young Children's shortlist for ''Ten Blue Wrens and what a lot of wattle!'' *

Queensland Premier's Literary Awards The Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were an Australian suite of literary awards inaugurated in 1999 and disestablished in 2012. It was one of the most generous suites of literary awards within Australia, with $225,000 in prize money across ...

: Best Children's Book, shortlist for ''Ten Blue Wrens and what a lot of wattle!''

References

Notes Sources {{DEFAULTSORT:Honey, Elizabeth 1947 births Living people Poets from Melbourne 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian women writers 21st-century Australian novelists 21st-century Australian women writers Australian children's book illustrators Australian children's writers Australian women poets Australian women children's writers Australian women illustrators Women writers of young adult literature Writers who illustrated their own writing People from Wonthaggi