Jacqueline Anne Ffrench (born 29 November 1953), known professionally as Jackie French, is an Australian author who has written across a number of genres for both adults and children. Her most notable works include '' Rain Stones,

Diary of a Wombat ''Diary of a Wombat'' is a 2002 award-winning picture book written by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whatley. It is the first in the ''Shaggy Gully'' books, and is one of the most popular of French's works. Shaggy Gully books # ''Diary ...

,'' and ''The Girl from Snowy River.'' Several of her books have been recommended for teaching the

Australian Curriculum The Australian Curriculum is a national curriculum for all primary and secondary schools in Australia under progressive development, review, and implementation. The curriculum is developed and reviewed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment an ...

. French lives in Braidwood, New South Wales, with her second husband Bryan Sullivan.

Career

French began writing '' Rain Stones'', her first book for children, when she was 30 years old, living in a shed and in need of money to register her car. French's books include both fictional, factional and non-fictional accounts of

Australian history The history of Australia is the story of the land and peoples of the continent of Australia. People first arrived on the Australian mainland by sea from Maritime Southeast Asia between 50,000 and 65,000 years ago, and penetrated to all parts ...

including ''Nanberry: Black Brother White'', ''Tom Appleby'', ''A Day to Remember'', ''A Waltz for Matilda'', ''The Girl from Snowy River'', ''The Road to Gundagai'', ''The Night They Stormed Eureka'' and ''Flood'' and ''Fire'' and ''Let the Land Speak: A history of Australia - how the land created our nation.'' Her most recent works include ''To Love a Sunburnt Country'' and ''The Beach they called Gallipoli'', ''Fire'', and ''The Hairy-Nosed Wombats Find a New Home''. French's royalties for that book are donated towards wombat preservation and research. Her books '' Hitler's Daughter'' and '' Pete the Sheep'' were adapted for the stage by Monkey BAA Theatre Company. ''Hitler's Daughter'' toured Australia in 2012 and the United States in 2013. ''Pete the Sheep'' toured Australia in 2014. She is a regular contributor to the ''

Australian Women's Weekly ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known as simply ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Mercury Capital in Sydney. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before being outsold by th ...

'' and the ''Canberra Times''. She also presented gardening segments on the long-running Australian TV series ''

Burke's Backyard ''Burke's Backyard'' was an Australian gardening and lifestyle series presented by horticulturist Don Burke, broadcast on both radio and television. On television, it was a regular weekly series on the Nine Network from 12 September 1987 to 26 ...

''.

Awards and recognition

French has won more than 60 awards in Australia and overseas and a number of her books have been shortlisted for numerous Australian and United States awards. In 2014, she was awarded the

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 ...

Griffith University children's Book Award and the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Notable Award for ''Refuge'', which was also shortlisted for the NSW Premier's History Award in two categories – Children's and Community Relations. Her book ''The Road to Gundagai'' was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's History Awards, and short-listed for the 2016 Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature,

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 ...

. Her novels ''Hitler's Daughter'' and ''To the Moon and Back'' have been awarded the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award in 2000 and 2005, and ''Pennies for Hitler'' won the 2013 New South Wales Premier's Young People History Award. ''Hitler's Daughter'' also won the UK Wow! Award, a Semi Grant Prix Japan Award and is listed as a blue ribbon book in the US. ''Diary of a Wombat'', illustrated by Bruce Whatley, has been translated into 23 languages and is the only picture book to win the

Australian Book Industry Award The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) are publishers' and literary awards held by the Australian Publishers Association annually in Sydney "to celebrate the achievements of authors and publishers in bringing Australian books to readers". ...

. It was also on ''The New York Times'' bestseller list. It has won the 2002 Booksellers Choice Award, Canberra's Own Outstanding List Award for Best Picture Book (2003), 2003 KOALA Awards, Best Picture Book, The Children Book Council of Australia Books I Love Best Yearly Award (2008), the 2003 ABA/AA Nielsen Book of the Year Award, 2003 American Library Association, Notable Book title, 2003 USA Cuffie Awards, Favourite Picture Book of the Year and Funniest Book, 2003, 2004 USA Benjamin Franklin Award, 2004 USA Lemmee Award, 2004 USA KIND Award and the 2007 Kids Reading Oz Choice Favourite Book Award. French was the 2014-15

Australian Children's Laureate The Australian Children's Laureate is a role appointed to an Australian children's author and/or illustrator with the purpose of promoting the power of reading to children. It is a two-year role and was inaugurated in 2011, for the 2012–2013 pe ...

and was a finalist in the 2014 Nib Waverley Library Award for Literature. She was awarded the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year. In 2016, French was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for significant service to literature as an author of children's books, and as an advocate for improved youth literacy. In 2016 she received the Australian Book Industry Awards

Pixie O'Harris Pixie O'Harris (born Rhona Olive Harris; 15 October 1903 – 17 November 1991) was a Welsh-born Australian artist, newspaper, magazine and book illustrator, author, broadcaster, caricaturist and cartoonist, designer of book plates, sheet music ...

award.

Personal life

French was born Jacqueline Anne Ffrench in Sydney and grew up in Brisbane. Her parents divorced in 1967, and when her mother changed her surname from Ffrench to French, Jackie also did so.Nikki Barrowclough, The escape artist", ''The Age'', 3 March 2012, Good Weekend, p. 27 In her early twenties she and her first husband moved to Araluen, near Braidwood, where she now lives with her second husband Bryan Sullivan. They have turned their property into a conservation refuge for the area's rare and endangered species. In 1996, her sister Wendy vanished. She was presumed dead but her body was never found. In 2003, Wendy's husband committed suicide during an investigation into his wife's disappearance. French studied the behaviour and ecology of wombats for 40 years and is the director of The Wombat Foundation, which raises funds for research into the preservation of wombats. She is also the ACT Children's Week Ambassador, 2011 Federal Literacy Ambassador, patron of Books for Kids, YESS, Speld ACT, Speld Qld, DAGS (Dyslexia Association Gawler), and joint patron of Monkey BAA Theatre for Young People with Susanne Gervais and Morris Gleitzman. French is

dyslexic Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

and wrote ''I Spy a Great Reader'' to help teachers and parents teach dyslexic children to read using varied and new methods.

References

External links

Official websitePublisher's websiteThe Children's Book Council of Australia websiteThe Wombat FoundationPapers and manuscripts of Jackie French held at the Lu Rees Archives of Australian Children's Literature Inc
{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Jackie 1953 births Living people 20th-century Australian novelists 21st-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian women writers 21st-century Australian women writers 20th-century Australian short story writers 21st-century Australian short story writers Australian children's writers Australian fantasy writers Australian non-fiction writers Australian women short story writers Australian women novelists People educated at Brisbane State High School Writers from Sydney Women science fiction and fantasy writers Australian women children's writers