I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in the world of children’s literature since the 1980s as a reviewer, academic, critic, and editor. And, since retiring from Hansard in 2006, I’ve been the author and illustrator of over 30 books. Along with my family, children’s literature has been my love and my passion, and so I was totally discombobulated to find out that I had been awarded an Order of Australia Medal for services to children’s literature in the Australian Honours Awards announced on Australia Day 2026.

Over the years I’ve been supported, encouraged and inspired by many wonderful organisations and talented people. This includes the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA), the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), Marion Writers, the ACT Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge and the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature.

I’ve worked with amazing publishers, including Susan Hall and Lauren Smith at the National Library of Australia and Briana Melideo at CSIRO Publishing. I’ve been mentored by the one and only Emeritus Professor Belle Alderman AM, and I’ve had the ongoing support of many creative friends, but especially Tania McCartney, Cate Whittle and Irma Gold. They are all simply the best.

And, of course, nothing would be possible without my family – my husband John; my children Bianca, Erryn and Megan; my grandchildren Kai, Louie and Ava; and my sisters Felice and Fiona. They are my rocks! A big thank you to everyone who has been a part of my children’s literature journey. I couldn’t have done it without you!

Dr Stephanie Owen Reeder OAM

19 March 2022

Today is a big day! On 19 March 1932, 90 years ago, the Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened. And there in the official opening parade was a nine-year-old boy called Lennie Gwyther, riding his trusty pony Ginger Mick! Lennie and Ginger Mick had ridden all the way from Leongatha in Victoria, all alone, just to see the bridge finally opened. You can read about the resilient and resourceful Lennie and the remarkable bridge in my book Lennie the Legend: Solo to Sydney by Pony (NLA Publishing). Find out more on my Heritage Heroes page.

And today is also the launch day for my new picture book Ghostie. Based on my young granddaughter Ava and her imaginary friend Ghostie, it’s a rollicking read full of mayhem and mischief for 3 to 6 year olds. Read about it here:
Granddaughter Ava inspires Stephanie Owen Reeder’s 20th book, Ghostie | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT.

February 2019

Three days away in Sydney, and so much happened! The SCBWI Conference 2019 for authors and illustrators was inspiring, exhausting, challenging, informative and absolutely wonderful. A day of networking, learning, admiring other people’s knowledge and achievements, and so much more! And the next day there was more of the same at the Creating Creative Writers PD Conference for Teachers and Teacher Librarians at the State Library of New South Wales. It was such a pleasure to share the stage with other lovers of writing non-fiction texts that engage and enchant young readers.

The day was topped off with the announcement of the CBCA Notable Books – the long-list for the Children’s Book of the Year Awards 2019. Marvellous Miss May was there, along with four other books produced by the wonderful NLA Publishing team at the National Library of Australia. Congratulations to everyone whose books were included! You can see them here: https://cbca.org.au/notables-2019.

February 2018

Very pleased and honoured to have my lift-the-flap book about exploring your emotions – I’ve Got a Feeling! – included in Australia’s Biggest Child Safety Lesson 2018, presented by the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. You can access it here: https://www.danielmorcombe.com.au/australias-biggest-lesson.html.

February 2019

I’m excited to be a part of the SCBWI Creating Creative Writers Conference for teachers and librarians at the State Library of New South Wales on Tuesday 26 February 2019. As well as joining in the panel discussion with award-winning nonfiction authors Sue Whiting, Corinne Fenton, Claire Saxby and Gina Newton, I’ll be talking about Picturing the Past – using historical images to inspire creative and factual writing. Details can be found at: https://australiaeastnz.scbwi.org/events/creating-creative-writers/.

2019

I’m thrilled to see Australian Children’s Literature icons Mem Fox, Leigh Hobbs, Morris Gleitzman, Alison Lester and Shaun Tan featured on postage stamps as part of the Australia Post Legends Awards 2019. I have had the honour of meeting all of these inspirational writers and illustrators. And I shared the stage (and a taxi!) with the wonderful Morris Gleitzman at the CBCA Book of the Year Awards ceremony in Sydney in 2016.

Mem, Leigh, Alison and Shaun (plus many other Australian picture-book creators) feature in my book Story Time Stars, which celebrates a selection of much-loved and much-lauded Australian story-time characters.  It is the companion book to the National Library’s exhibition on Australian children’s  literature.

August 2018

I’m thrilled to announce that Marvellous Miss May, Queen of the Circus will have a shiny award sticker, just like the rest of the Heritage Heroes books! Marvellous Miss May has been shortlisted for the Young People’s History Prize in the New South Wales Premier’s History Awards 2018. Read the shortlist announcement here: http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/pha_2018_shortlist_mr_090818.pdf. The winners will be announced at a cocktail party at the State Library of New South Wales on Friday 31 August. Miss May is jumping for joy!

April 2018

Check out the wonderful half-hour documentary on Lennie the Legend produced by the ABC’s Radio National and presented on The History Listen program. It is a fabulous mix of songs from the 1930s, interviews with Lennie’s relatives, and extracts from the musical performed by Victorian schoolchildren. It was an honour to be a part of this production! You can listen in here: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-history-listen/lennie-the-legend/9640292. 

October 2017

October has been a busy month! I’ve been working on seven books at once. Luckily, they are all at different stages of production. Two are now being printed, including my next Heritage Heroes book, Marvellous Miss May, Queen of the Circus, another is with the illustrator, two are with ‘interested’ publishers for assessment, and I am working on proposals for two more! I also attended two very special events this October.

UNVEILING OF THE STATUE OF LENNIE GWYTHER AND GINGER MICK

On 14 October 2017, I attended the unveiling of a life-size bronze statue of Lennie Gwyther and his pony Ginger Mick, who featur in my award-winning historical novel Lennie the Legend: Solo to Sydney by Pony. It was a very special day. Around a thousand people crammed into a small park on Anderson Street in Leongatha to celebrate Lennie and his remarkable achievements. They included polititians and local dignatories, a bevy of school children dressed as Lennie and Ginger Mick, members of the community, four authors who had written about Lennie Gwyther, and over 60 members of Lennie’s family, including his daughter, granddaughter and 92-year-old sister Beryl Ferrier. Speeches were made, songs were sung, the children performed and the proud family unveiled the stunning statue. After the ceremony, I signed books for almost an hour, along with Mary Small, author of Lennies’s Ride. It was a very special day for all concerned and a perfect tribute to the inspirational achievements of this small boy and his pony.

HANDS ACROSS CANBERRA CHARITY EVENT AT THE PRIME MINISTER’S LODGE

On 21 October 2017, I attended a wonderful charity event held in the grounds of the Prime Minister’s Lodge in Canberra. Organised by charity group Hands Across Canberra, the inaugural Storytelling at the Lodge event was put on for children with special needs. These amazing young people were treated to a storytelling session with the irrepressable actor Rhys Muldoon, face-painting, balloon-sculpting, and book-readings and creative activities with five of Canberra’s children’s authors, illustrators and storytellers. We were then treated to a delicious afternoon tea. It was a perfect Canberra spring day, the grounds of the Lodge were bursting with azaleas and wisteria, the children had a ball, and everyone went home happy! Here are some of the contributors: storyteller Mollie Bee, Emeritus Professor Belle Alderman, author Jack Heath, author-illustrator Stephanie Owen Reeder, author-illustrator Tania McCartney and illustrator Tony Flowers. Find out more about this event here: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/prime-minister-opens-the-lodge-for-hands-across-canberras-educational-childrens-event-20171021-gz5lwv.html.

April 2017

Call me old fashioned, but I still write the first draft of all my books by hand, using a gel pen and an exercise book! I love the creative flow of words streaming straight from the brain, down the arm and out through the finger tips onto the empty page. And I usually write the whole book all at once, with just the occasional correction as I go.

Mind you, with my Heritage Heroes books, before I write I have already spent about six months immersing myself in research, starting with primary sources such as contemporary newspaper reports, articles and memoirs, and then moving on to secondary sources. As I go, I transfer the information onto the computer, organising it into categories such as storyline, characters, settings and timeline. I also collect as many images as I can, as photographs and paintings provide lots of interesting details about the historial period.

Once the characters start waking me up in the middle of the night having noisy conversations in my head, I know it’s time to get the story down on paper! And that’s when the trusty pen and excercise book come out. Part of the reason why I handwrite the first draft is to avoid editing at this preliminary stage. I just want the story to flow. Also, as a professional editor, it is hard for me to not start editing as soon as I have a few words on the screen, and that sometimes means going over and over the first paragraph without ever moving on! So handwriting it is.

Once the handwritten draft has been transferred onto the computer (often making editorial changes as I type), then editing starts in earnest. When I get to the stage where I know the text needs to be seen by a new set of eyes, then it’s off to the publisher’s, where a copyedit is undertaken by a professional editor. There is then a period of toing and froing, as the manuscript goes between the editor and the author, until we are both satisfied that the text is as good as it can be.

A similar process then occurs between the designer and the author. Then it’s time for proofreading, again done by a professional editor. Finally, with fingers crossed that no errors have been missed by any of us, the manuscript goes off to the printer to become a book! As you will see from the examples above, Lennie the Legend originally had ten chapters, and there was a lot more text than ended up in the final version. I had to do a lot of ‘killing my darlings’ for that one!

I would be interested to hear from other authors about their writing processes. Is there anyone else who, like me, still writes their first draft by hand?