A.J. Betts
I'm a Perth-based writer who writes realistic fiction for teenagers (14+) but adults enjoy them too. I'm also an English teacher, poet, writer of non-fiction texts, presenter and reader.
If you like author A.J. Betts here is the list of authors you may also like
Buy books on AmazonA.J. Betts similar authors
-
Adi Alsaid
Adi Alsaid was born and raised in Mexico City, where he now lives, writes, and spills hot sauce on things. He's the author of several YA novels including LET'S GET LOST, NEVER ALWAYS SOMETIMES, and NORTH OF HAPPY.
Buy books on Amazon -
Megan Williams
Megan Williams won the 2022 Text Prize for her debut YA novel Let’s Never Speak of This Again. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and their three children.
Buy books on Amazon -
Sarah Dunn
Sarah Dunn (born 1970) is an American author and television writer. She was educated in the University of Arizona.
Buy books on Amazon
Coming to prominence in 1994 with her book Official Slacker Handbook, Sarah Dunn went to Hollywood, where she wrote for such series as Murphy Brown, Veronica's Closet and Spin City. -
Trinity Doyle
Trinity grew up in the suburbs of Lake Macquarie. The kind of kid who would rather write lines than play sport she found her home in books, writing and art. She’s worked as a music photographer, graphic designer; been one half of a diy record label and played bass terribly but enthusiastically in various girl bands.
Buy books on Amazon
At 25 she took her vague emo poetry and wrote a novel. Then she spent five years rewriting it. The ASA called her work ‘edgy [and] convincing’ and she thinks that’s pretty neat.
Trinity lives in Newcastle NSW, with her husband, daughter and cat. Pieces of Sky is her first novel -
Sara Zarr
Sara Zarr is the acclaimed author of ten books, most recently Goodbye from Nowhere, and Courageous Creativity: Advice and Encouragement for the Creative Life--a book on creativity for the young and young-at-heart. She’s a National Book Award finalist and two-time Utah Book Award winner, and is the host and producer of the This Creative Life podcast. Her first book, Story of a Girl, was made into a 2017 television movie directed by Kyra Sedgwick. She lives with her husband and cat, Mr. Donut, in CA and UT.
Buy books on Amazon
How I use goodreads: To log books I read in a year, books I want to read, and books by authors who were on my podcast, This Creative Life. (Those also turn up on my read shelf though I haven't necessarily read them!) I don't use the rating -
Cally Black
Lives in Melbourne, Australia, works with gifted children, teaches at Tafe, and writes for Young Adults.
Buy books on Amazon
Her first ever YA, In The Dark Spaces, won the 2015 Ampersand Prize and a publishing contract with Hardie Grant Egmont and hit the shelves August 2017. It is an SF Thriller. -
Barry Jonsberg
Barry Jonsberg is an Australian author and teacher originally from Liverpool, England. He holds degrees in English and Psychology from Liverpool University and moved to Australia in 1999. His debut novel, The Whole Business with Kiffo and the Pitbull, earned acclaim in 2005, and his follow-up, It’s Not All About YOU, Calma, won the 2006 South Australian Festival Award for Children’s Literature. Jonsberg has continued to receive numerous honors, including awards and shortlistings for Dreamrider, My Life as an Alphabet, A Little Spark, and Smoke & Mirrors, affirming his place in contemporary young adult literature.
Buy books on Amazon -
Brendan Ritchie
Brendan Ritchie is an early-career novelist and academic from the south coast of WA. He is the winner of the 2022 Dorothy Hewett Award for an unpublished manuscript and author of novels including Carousel (2015) and Beyond Carousel (2016). Brendan has a PhD in Creative Writing and has also published poetry and non-fiction in several notable journals and collections.
Buy books on Amazon -
Isobelle Carmody
Isobelle Carmody began the first novel of her highly acclaimed Obernewtyn Chronicles while she was still in high school. The series has established her at the forefront of fantasy writing in Australia.
Buy books on Amazon
In addition to her young-adult novels, such as the Obernewtyn Chronicles and Alyzon Whitestarr, Isobelle's published works include several middle-grade fantasies. Her still-unfinished Gateway Trilogy has been favorably compared to The Wizard of Oz and the Chronicles of Narnia. The Little Fur quartet is an eco-fantasy starring a half-elf, half-troll heroine and is fully illustrated by the author herself.
Isobelle's most recent picture book, Magic Night, is a collaboration with illustrator Declan Lee. Originally published in Australia as The Wron -
John Marsden
There is more than one author with this name in the database, see f.e. John Marsden.
Buy books on Amazon
John Marsden was an Australian writer and school principal. He wrote more than 40 books in his career and his books have been translated into many languages. He was especially known for his young adult novel Tomorrow, When the War Began, which began a series of seven books.
Marsden began writing for children while working as a teacher, and had his first book, So Much to Tell You, published in 1987. In 2006, he started an alternative school, Candlebark School, and reduced his writing to focus on teaching and running the school. In 2016, he opened the arts-focused secondary school, Alice Miller School. Both schools are in the Macedon Ranges. -
Anna Funder
Anna Funder was born in Melbourne in 1966. She has worked as an international lawyer and a radio and television producer. Her book Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, won the 2004 Samuel Johnson Prize. She lives in Sydney with her husband and family.
Buy books on Amazon -
Helen Garner
Helen Garner was born in Geelong in 1942. She has published many works of fiction including Monkey Grip, Cosmo Cosmolino and The Children's Bach. Her fiction has won numerous awards. She is also one of Australia's most respected non-fiction writers, and received a Walkley Award for journalism in 1993.
Buy books on Amazon
Her most recent books are The First Stone, True Stories, My Hard Heart, The Feel of Stone and Joe Cinque's Consolation. In 2006 she won the Melbourne Prize for Literature. She lives in Melbourne.
Praise for Helen Garner's work
'Helen Garner is an extraordinarily good writer. There is not a paragraph, let alone a page, where she does not compel your attention.'
Bulletin
'She is outstanding in the accuracy of her observations, the intensity of passio -
Bren MacDibble
Bren lives in Kalbarri on the amazing Coral Coast of Western Australia.
Buy books on Amazon
Her first children's novel: How to Bee (2017) won multiple awards, The Dog Runner (2019) and Across the Risen Sea (2020) also won and were shortlisted in multiple awards. The Raven's Song (2022) written with the amazing award-winning Zana Fraillon, has recently been launched.
All her novels are packed full of wild adventures and feature children surviving environmentally changed futures. They are stories that don't mask the realities of the world children see all around them, but do offer hope, safe fictional exploration of climate issues and examples of resilience.
Bren grew up on the land in NZ, and hopes that while children enjoy these wild adventures with colourful cha -
Suzy Zail
A Family lawyer in her past life, Suzy is now the bestselling author of more than 14 books for adults, teens and children. Suzy is best-known for her young adult novels, Inkflower, The Wrong Boy, Alexander Altmann A10567 and I am Change, stories that shine a light on injustice. She is also the founder of Give A Girl a Book, shipping more than 10,000 books (donated by school libraries and students) to girls in Africa who couldn’t otherwise afford them. Suzy's novels have won Reader's choice for Book of the Year for older readers, in the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards, been shortlisted for the Young Australians Best Book Awards and the U.K. Coventry Inspiration Book Awards and have been named an Outstanding Inter
Buy books on Amazon -
Amanda Hampson
Melbourne-based author, Amanda Hampson has been writing professionally for more than 30 years and is the award-winning author of nine novels: The Olive Sisters, Two for the Road, The French Perfumer, The Yellow Villa, Sixty Summers, Lovebirds, The Tea Ladies, The Cryptic Clue and The Deadly Dispute.
Buy books on Amazon
A runaway bestseller, The Tea Ladies won the 2024 Danger Awards for Best Crime Fiction and was Shortlisted for 2024 Davitt Awards Best Adult Crime & 2024 Ned Kelly Awards Best Fiction.
-
Lili Wilkinson
Lili Wilkinson is the award-winning author of eighteen books for young people, including The Erasure Initiative and After the Lights Go Out. Lili has a PhD from the University of Melbourne, and is a passionate advocate for YA and the young people who read it, establishing the Inky Awards at the Centre for Youth Literature, State Library of Victoria. Her latest book is A Hunger of Thorns.
Buy books on Amazon -
Tristan Bancks
Tristan Bancks tells stories for the page and screen. His books for kids and teens include Two Wolves, The Fall, Detention, the Tom Weekly series, and Nit Boy. Ginger Meggs, Tristan’s 100th anniversary book of short stories, is based on characters created by his great-great uncle, Jimmy Bancks, in 1921. His books have won and been shortlisted for many awards, including a Children’s Book Council of Australia Honour Book, the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, ABIA, YABBA, KOALA, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and Queensland Literary Awards. His latest release is Cop & Robber, a nailbiting crime story for age 10+.
Buy books on Amazon
Tristan is a writer-ambassador for literacy non-profit Room to Read. He is currently working with producers to develop a number of hi -
Will Kostakis
Hi. A teacher-librarian yelled at me to update this, so here goes. Time to talk about myself in the third-person.
Buy books on Amazon
Will Kostakis is an absolute delight.
In the past, he has written everything from celebrity news stories that score cease and desist letters, to tweets for professional wrestlers.
Nowadays, he’s best known (but not particularly well known) for his award-winning YA novels.
His first novel, Loathing Lola, was released when he was just nineteen. His second, The First Third, won the 2014 Gold Inky Award. It was also shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year and Australian Prime Minister’s Literary awards, among others. The Sidekicks was his third novel for young adults, and his American debut. It went on -
Anh Do
Anh Do is a comedian, artist and also one of the highest selling Australian authors of all time, with total book sales approaching 3 million.
Buy books on Amazon
Anh’s first book, The Happiest Refugee, is his enormously popular memoir recounting his perilous childhood journey in a tiny boat from war-torn Vietnam to Australia. The book became an instant hit and has won numerous awards including Australian Book of the Year.
Anh has since turned his attention to children’s book writing.
Weird Do is an illustrated series starring Weir (1st name), Do (2nd name), a kid with a very unfortunate name. Aimed at the 8+ market, these books have gone off the charts as national best-sellers, resulting in 14 books total and more on the way. The first Weir Do won the Australi -
Kate Gordon
Kate Gordon grew up in a small town by the sea in Tasmania. She is the author of numerous award-winning picture-books and novels for younger readers, including Aster’s Good, Right Things, published by Yellow Brick Books in November, 2020, which won the CBCA Book of the Year for younger readers in 2021, and was shortlisted in the Tasmanian Literary Awards in 2022. The companion novels, Xavier in the Meantime and Indigo in the Storm were published in 2021 and 2023. Whalesong was published by Yellow Brick Books in 2022, following Kate’s residency at the Maritime Museum of Tasmania. Kate continues to write novels and picture books from a cottage overlooking the river and the mountain on the Eastern Shore of Hobart. She has two daughters, an eld
Buy books on Amazon -
Katrina Nannestad
Katrina Nannestad is an award-winning Australian author. Her books include The Girl Who Brought Mischief, the Girl, the Dog and the Writer series, the Olive of Groves series, the Red Dirt Diaries series, the Lottie Perkins series and Bungaloo Creek.
Buy books on Amazon
Katrina grew up in country New South Wales in a neighborhood stuffed full of happy children. Her adult years have been spent teaching, raising boys, perfecting her recipe for chocolate-chip bickies and pursuing her love of stories. She now lives near Bendigo with her family and an exuberant black whippet called Olive. -
Liz Braswell
After the sort of introverted childhood you would expect from a writer, Liz earned a degree in Egyptology at Brown University and then promptly spent the next ten years producing video games. Finally she caved into fate and wrote Snow and Rx under the name Tracy Lynn, followed by The Nine Lives of Chloe King series under her real name, because by then the assassins hunting her were all dead. She also has short stories in Geektastic and Who Done It and a new series of reimagined fairy tales coming out, starting with A Whole New World—a retelling of Aladdin.
Buy books on Amazon
She lives in Brooklyn with a husband, two children, a cat, a part-time dog, three fish and five coffee trees she insists will start producing beans any day. You can email her at me@lizbra -
Lynette Noni
Australian author Lynette Noni studied journalism, academic writing, and human behaviour at university before venturing into the world of fiction. She is the #1 bestselling and award-winning author of THE PRISON HEALER series, THE MEDORAN CHRONICLES, and the WHISPER duology. To date, her books have sold more than one million copies in over 20 countries across the globe.
Buy books on Amazon -
Brendan Ritchie
Brendan Ritchie is an early-career novelist and academic from the south coast of WA. He is the winner of the 2022 Dorothy Hewett Award for an unpublished manuscript and author of novels including Carousel (2015) and Beyond Carousel (2016). Brendan has a PhD in Creative Writing and has also published poetry and non-fiction in several notable journals and collections.
Buy books on Amazon -
-
Nita Prose
NITA PROSE is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery Guest and The Maid, which has sold more than two million copies worldwide. A Good Morning America Book Club pick, The Maid won the Ned Kelly Award for International Crime Fiction, the Fingerprint Award for Debut Book of the Year, the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, and the Barry Award for Best First Mystery. The Maid was also an Edgar Award finalist for Best Novel. Visit Nita at nitaprose.com or on Instagram and X @NitaProse.
Buy books on Amazon -
Gary Lonesborough
Gary Lonesborough is a Yuin man, who grew up on the Far South Coast of NSW as part of a large and proud Aboriginal family. Growing up a massive Kylie Minogue and North Queensland Cowboys fan, Gary was always writing as a child, and continued his creative journey when he moved to Sydney to study at film school. Gary has experience working in Aboriginal health, the disability sector (including experience working in the Youth Justice System), and the film industry. He was Bega Valley Shire Council Young Citizen of the Year, won the Patrick White Young Indigenous Writers' Award, and has received a Copyright Agency First Nations Fellowship. The Boy from the Mish is Gary's debut YA novel.
Buy books on Amazon -
Megan Williams
Megan Williams won the 2022 Text Prize for her debut YA novel Let’s Never Speak of This Again. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and their three children.
Buy books on Amazon