James Phelan

James Phelan is the Melbourne-based author of 30 novels for adults and teens. After studying Architecture at RMIT and working on the Federation Square design team, he started following his dream of becoming a novelist, spending five years as a staff writer at The Age newspaper while studying a Master of Arts in Writing, and a PhD in YA Literature. He is a regular speaker and teacher of writing at schools, universities and libraries across Australia. His books have won at several literary prizes including: ABIA, YALSA, YABBA, KOALA, KROC, COOL. James has been an Industry Expert for The Australia Council, and is currently a peer assessor (literature) for Creative Australia. He has helped organize the Melbourne, BAD Sydney, and National Young Writers Festivals, has convened the John Marsden Prize, ran the Queensland Writers Centre’s “Year of the Book”, and is a five-time recipient of the “Get Reading! 50 best books of the year”.