Barry Jonsberg
, b. 1951
Barry Jonsberg was born in Liverpool, England. He moved to Australia in 1999 and became an Australian citizen in 2007. He has a B.A. Hons in English Literature and a Master of Philosophy in English Literature from Liverpool University. He was a lecturer in English in the UK and a high school teacher in Darwin, Australia where he now lives with his wife, and two children. He started writing when he moved to Darwin in 2001. Jonsberg still teaches occasionally, but now prefers to write fulltime.
He has completed nine books for young adults and three books for younger readers. He writes across a variety of genres including comedy, detective fiction and young adult dystopian fiction. His book My Life as an Alphabet was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Award in 2014. It also won the Children’s Peace Prize, the Gold Inky, the Victorian Premier’s award for YA fiction and was shortlisted for the Adelaide Festival award. Likewise, his book Being Here was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2012 and won the Queensland Premier’s Literary award for YA fiction. The Whole Business with Kiffo and the Pitbull and It's Not All About YOU, Calma! were short-listed for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year, Older Readers, awards. It's Not All About YOU, Calma! also won the Adelaide Festival Award for Children's Literature, Dreamrider was short-listed in the New South Wales Premier's Awards for the Ethel Turner prize and Cassie (Girlfriend Fiction) was short-listed for the Children's Peace Literature Award 2009.
His books have been published in the USA, France, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Turkey, and China. His book Am I right or am I right? was published in the USA; The Crimes and Punishment of Miss Payne has been translated into Chinese, Hungarian, German and Polish. The Dog that Dumped on my Doona was translated into German; Cassie was translated in German and Turkish, It’s not all about you Calma! has been translated in Polish, German and French, and My Life as an alphabet has been translated in French and German.
Source:
Official website (accessed: July 2, 2018).
Bio prepared by Gretta Yuide, University of New England (student), dolly331@bigpond.com
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