Ellen Madden is a Queensland-based writer with a novel burning inside, but with three children small enough to ensure her current focus is picture books. She has always filled journals with notes and, thankfully, has moved through the phase of tragic poetry. If she could be anywhere in the world, she would be at the beach with her family. Her first book Joseph was not Going to School was written when her eldest child started school, and she was surprised at the impact it had on the rest of the family. Ellen is happiest when reading, to herself, out loud to her children, or at story time in the library where she works.