The Official Bit – My Biography

Emma is an internationally published and award-winning Australian author of books for adults and children; an experienced presenter; and a passionate literacy advocate with the children’s education charity, Ardoch.

Emma’s love of words, fashion, travel and everyday family life has seen her write fun, feel-good books which showcase contemporary culture and capture the joy of childhood. She has a strong passion for creating children’s picture books and writing in rhyme.

Her debut picture book, Wonderful Shoes (illustrated by Tania McCartney; Windy Hollow Books, 2021) was awarded a CBCA Notable Book, Early Childhood, 2022; named in a prestigious list of Best Rhyming Books for Little Ones (Children’s Books Daily, 2021); and features on Play School Story Time (Series 5, ABC Kids TV, 2022). 

Her next two picture books with Affirm Press, The Day You Were Born (illustrated by Hilary Jean Tapper; 2023) and This Is My Happy Place (illustrated by Jen Khatun; 2024) have both been bestsellers in Australia. The Day You Were Born (designed by Sasha Beekman) was longlisted for the 2024 Australian Book Design Association’s (ABDA) ‘Best Designed Children’s Picture Book’.

Emma has recently signed picture book contracts with another leading Australian publisher, and looks forward to sharing more about these exciting projects in due course.

Emma has lived in Asia and many parts of Australia, as well as spending 11 years in London – where she worked as an Occupational Therapist in both the public and private sectors. She is an avid reader, maker, traveller and house renovator, who has run her own successful slow fashion business.

Emma lives in Naarm/Melbourne on Boonwurrung land with her family. An active participant in the Australian children’s literature community, she has been featured in local, national and international press; and was a guest author on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour when she lived in London. She can be contacted for classroom and speaking events via Booked Out Speakers Agency.

A little bit more about Emma and her writing, literacy advocacy and DEED bags

Emma enjoys a happy creative life with a strong emphasis on giving back to the community.

Even though fashion, sewing, travelling and the environment have been lifelong passions of Emma’s, she pursued healthcare and corporate careers after graduating from the University of Queensland with a double degree in Science (psychology, biochemistry and chemistry) and Occupational Therapy (First Class Honours). After working in general medicine, neurology and paediatrics she specialized in industrial ergonomics and workplace healthcare – swapping her sling-backs for steel-capped boots and treading the factory floors at companies such as Ford Motor Company, General Motors Holden and Rover.

But it was complex report writing, and managing large healthcare teams in London for NHS Trusts and Insurance Companies, where she worked for eleven years, which ultimately sowed the seeds to her future writing career. And when she became a new mum in the early 2000s, she was both surprised and thrilled to find her creative-writing and fashion-loving interests come to the fore – resulting in the publication of her non-fiction and commercial fiction titles for adults with Ryland, Peters and Small (A Passion for Shoes; A Passion for Handbags, 2002) and Bloomsbury (The Shoe Princess’s Guide to the Galaxy, 2009).

Emma has been supporting Melbourne-based children’s education charity, Ardoch, since 2006. On the back of her extensive experience in running Classroom Story Writing Workshops in Melbourne Primary Schools, in 2016, Emma was invited by Ardoch to help establish their ‘Writer in Residence’ Program – which has since gone on to receive generous corporate funding and enable dozens more published authors to be placed in schools each year, in communities of need, along with an expansion of the program to Sydney in 2023. She is passionate about Early Childhood Education and getting quality childhood literature into the hands of as many young children as possible before they start school, and is an Ambassador for Ardoch and their annual School Readiness Book Drive.

Emma enjoys being an active member of the book community in Australia (SCBWI; CBCA; ASA; Writers Vic) and was invited to be an official blogger for the annual children’s literature conference, ‘KidLitVic Meet the Publishers’ in Melbourne (2019).

In 2017, Emma expanded her creative pursuits to follow her dream of starting her own slow fashion, small business, DEED bags – where she designed and hand made bespoke tote bags in her sustainable studio; and gave back to charity via awareness raising campaigns and donations through every bag sold, along with regular social media fundraising auctions. She closed her DEED bags studio in 2022, after five successful years and more than $6,000 donated to Ardoch, to focus on her writing and presenting work for children.