Gill McPadden

I have always loved books. When I was young, I used to lose myself in a book for hours (much to my mother's frustration). A love of escaping to a fantasy world or to adventure through the pages of a book has stayed with me all my life. My interest in children's books was renewed when I had children of my own. I wanted to give them the love of books that my parents had given me.

Whenever I am not reading or writing, I am drawing. I have always had a keen interest in drawing and painting, but have only really taken it up again in the last couple of years since leaving high school. I didn't really think about illustrating until I started to write children's stories, then I tried to visualise them by doing my own illustrations.

I live in Canberra. I am married and have two children, a boy aged seven and a girl aged two. We have a big yellow labrador dog called Max whom I walk every day. I like walking him because it gives me time to think. Most of my stories come to me while I am walking. I don't usually write anything down until have it almost word-for-word in my head. We also have an old cat called Taffy and a new kitten called Smokie who we got from the RSPCA just after Christmas. We also have a budgie called Tommy (we thought she was a boy when she was young) and a frog, who doesn't have a name.

People often ask me how I find the time to write and draw with the demands of a young family and working full-time. Because I love it, I always manage to find the time, though it is a fine juggling act at times.

Books written and illustrated by Gill McPadden published by Ginninderra Press:

All available from Ginninderra Press, PO Box 53, Charnwood ACT 2615.