Allan Baillie

Allan Baillie was born in Scotland in 1943 and came to Australia when he was seven. He attended several Victorian bush schools before settling in Melbourne. Allan became a journalist, moved to Sydney and began writing books. He is now a full-time author, chasing books in Cambodia, China, Arnhem Land, Indonesia and Timor. His works have been published in fourteen countries and they have won various awards. Drac and Gremlin won Picture Book of the Year at the 1989 Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards. Allan has been short-listed for this award many times, including for DragonQuest in 1997. That same year DragonQuest was also short-listed for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award. Allan has won the NSW Premier’s Young People’s History Prize several times and in 2010 his book Krakatoa Lighthouse won the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature. Allan is married with a daughter and a son. He swims and sails whenever possible.