Lili Wilkinson

Lili Wilkinson
Born (1981-04-07) 7 April 1981 (age 43)
Melbourne, Australia
OccupationAuthor
GenreYoung adult
Website
liliwilkinson.com.au

Lili Wilkinson (born 7 April 1981) is an Australian author. She has also written for several publications, including The Age, and managed insideadog.com.au, a website for teenagers about books, as part of her role at the Centre For Youth Literature at the State Library of Victoria until January 2011.

Early life

Wilkinson was born in Melbourne, the daughter of children's author, Carole Wilkinson, and film and television sound recordist, John Wilkinson. She attended Spensley Street Primary School and Mac.Robertson Girls' High School,[1] and has referred to her high school self as "a bit of a nerd". Heavily involved in drama, in Year 7 she played Aphrodite in a musical version of the Greek epic Odyssey.

Influences

Wilkinson has spoken of her love for the work of Diana Wynne Jones, David Almond and Lewis Carroll in interviews. She has also revealed that Shaun Tan is her favourite illustrator. She has been quoted as saying: "My favourite books would be Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll. Oh, and Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. And The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt. Do I have to stop there?"[2]

Doctoral thesis

In 2015, Wilkinson completed a PhD in Writing which examined the influence of young adult fiction on the politicisation of teenagers.[3][4]

Works

Novels

  • Joan of Arc: The Story of Jehanne Darc (2006)
  • Scatterheart (2007)
  • The Not-Quite Perfect Boyfriend (2008)
  • Pink
  • Angel Fish (2009)
  • Pocketful of eyes (2011)
  • Love-shy (2012)
  • The Zigzag Effect (2013)
  • Green Valentine (2015)
  • The Boundless Sublime (2016)
  • After the Lights Go Out (2018)
  • The Erasure Initiative (2020)
  • A Hunger of Thorns (2023)

Hodgepodge series

  • Hodgepodge: How to Make a Pet Monster 1 (2020)
  • Flummox: How to Make a Pet Monster 2 (2021)
  • Smidgen: How to Make a Pet Monster 3 (2022)

Picture books

  • That Christmas Feeling (2017)
  • Clancy the Quokka (2020)

Anthologies

  • Short (as editor) (2008)

Short stories

  • "The Babysitter" in Trust Me (edited by Paul Collins) (2008)
  • "The Moth-er" in Short and Scary (edited by Karen Tayleur) (2010)
  • "Oona Underground" in Begin, End, Begin: A LoveOzYA Anthology (edited by Danielle Binks) (2017)
  • "If the Shoe Fits" in Everything Under the Moon: Fairy Tales in a Queerer Light (edited by Michael Earp) (2023)

Miscellaneous

  • "Fantastic Worlds" & "In Defense of Pink Books" in Right Book Right Time (Agnes Nieuwenhuizen) (2007)

Awards and recognition

References

  1. ^ "Archive August 2020: Lili Wilkinson Virtual Author Talk". library.macrob.vic.edu.au. MacRobertson High School. August 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2020. She is also a former Macrobbian.
  2. ^ black dog books | authors & illustrators | Lili Wilkinson Archived 16 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Lili Wilkinson: Author, Education Consultant, Inspirational Speaker". Booked Out. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  4. ^ Northover, Kylie (29 June 2012). "Fantasy spurs teens into social activism". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Aurealis Awards 2020 finalists announced". Books+Publishing. 6 April 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  6. ^ "2021 Queensland Literary Awards shortlists". State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  7. ^ Heath, Nicola (1 February 2024). "Debut poet takes home $125,000 in prize money for a verse novel that almost wasn't published". ABC News. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  8. ^ "Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2024 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 15 August 2024. Retrieved 15 August 2024.