Matt Shanks

Matt Shanks is an internationally-published and critically-acclaimed author/illustrator of over twenty picture books. Eric the Postie (2018) and Queen Celine (2019) were both awarded Notables by the CBCA for Picture Book of The Year. Rosie the Rhinoceros, written by Australian rock legend Jimmy Barnes, and Herman Crab, written by one of Australia’s favourite comedians, Peter Helliar, is available now. Matt is a two-time fellow of the May Gibbs’ Children’s Literature Trust, an Australian Literary and Numeracy Foundation ambassador, co-editor of Words Like This, and works primarily in watercolour. He lives on Boon Wurrung land with his partner and cat.

Matt acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which he does his work and pays his respects to elders past and present. He acknowledges the sorrow of the stolen generations and the impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. He also recognises the resilience, strength and pride of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and through his work, aims to help as much as possible to empower and help them thrive.

He’s currently working on books for children with the wonderful people at Scholastic Australia, HarperCollins Australia, Walker Books Australia, Hardie Grant, and Allen and Unwin.