David Metzenthen

David Metzanthen is an Australian writer for children and young adults who was born in Melbourne, Australia

As a child, David was a nature boy; he loved fishing and farm work, exploring the bush, and being outdoors under the stars. He also lived very much inside his own head; feeling that the world was a place of unlimited adventure. He harboured dreams of becoming a cowboy, a fisherman, a farmer, a sailor, or a writer. Instead he left home at eighteen, with a copy of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road for company, and hitch-hiked his way around New Zealand. Returning to Australia, he worked as a copywriter for Radio 3DB, for Grundy Television and for Myer before deciding to write full-

He now lives in Melbourne with his wife and two children

He has won many literary awards for his work, including:

The Ethel Turner Prize for Children’s Writing and Children’s Book Council Book of the Year : Older Readers — Johnny Hart’s Heroes (1996/7)

Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Awards: Older Readers — Gilbert’s Ghost Train (1998)

Victoria Premier’s Literary Awards — Prize for Young Adult Fiction — Wildlight: A Journey (2003)

Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards — Best Young Adult Book and Chldren’s Book Council Book of the Year: Older Readers — Boys of

Blood and Bone (2003/4)

Children’s Book Council : Picture Book of the Year — The Rainbirds (2007)

Children’s Book Council Book of the Year: Older Readers — Black Water (2008)

Children’s Book Council Book of the Year:Older Readers — Jarvis (2010)

Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Awards — Picture Book of the Year — One Minute’s Silence (2015)

Queensland Literary Awards — Griffith University Young Adult Book Award — Dreaming The Enemy (2016)