About the Author

Sonya Hartnett is the internationally acclaimed author of several novels, including Thursday's Child (winner of the 2002 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize) and Forest (winner of the 2002 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year: Older Readers). Her adult novel, Of a Boy, won The Age Book of the Year Award in 2003 and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. The Silver Donkey was CBC Book of the Year (Young readers) in 2005. Surrender was shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year Award and the Aurealis Award - Fantasy Division in 2005. In 2008, Sonya Hartnett became the first Australian recipient of The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.