Robyn Marie Sheahan-Bright is an Australian author, editor and publisher of, and on, children's literature and publishing itself.

Career

Based in Queensland Sheahan-Bright co-founded Jam Roll Press with Leonie Tyler and Robyn Collins in 1988 to publish children's picture books and young adult fiction. It was later sold to

University of Queensland Press Established in 1948, University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house. Founded as a traditional university press, UQP has since branched into publishing books for general readers in the areas of fiction, non-fiction, poetr ...

in 1994. Sheahan-Bright was the inaugural Executive Director of the Queensland Writers Centre (1991–1997). Sheahan-Bright received a PhD from

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian s ...

in 2005 for her thesis, "To Market to Market: The Development of the Australian Children's Publishing Industry". Sheahan-Bright chaired the judging panel Children's Fiction and Young Adult Fiction for the 2010 and 2011 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. She is a current (2017–18) board member of the Australian Children's Literature Alliance (founded in 2008) which selects and appoints an annual

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 ...

Awards and recognition

* 2011 Dame Annabelle Rankin Award for Distinguished Services to Children's Literature, Qld Branch of

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 ...

*2012

Nan Chauncy Award The Nan Chauncy Award is an Australian children's literature award. It was initially established as a quinquennial award and is now presented biennially in the Children's Book Council Awards. The award was established to honour Nan Chauncy, who ...

for her outstanding contribution to the field of Australian children's literature * 2014 recipient of the Johnno Award for her contribution to Queensland Writing. * 2021

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 children's literature, and to the promotion of reading"

Publications

* ''Nightmares in Paradise : A Collection of Short Stories'', University of Queensland Press, 1995, * ''Paradise to Paranoia'', co-written with Nigel Krauth, University of Queensland Press, 1995, * ''Original Sin'', (collection of young adult short stories), compiler/editor, University of Queensland Press, 1996, * ''Hot Iron Corrugated Sky: 100 years of Queensland writing'', co-edited with Stuart Glover, University of Queensland Press, 2002, * ''Paper Empires: A history of the book in Australia 1946–2005'', also titled ''A history of the book in Australia'', co-written with Craig Munro, University of Queensland Press, 2006,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheahan-Bright, Robyn Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the Order of Australia Australian women writers Australian writers Griffith University alumni