Emily Rodda is one of Australia's most successful, popular and versatile writers, and has won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award an unprecedented five times.
A former editor of The Australian Women's Weekly, Emily is also the best-selling author of adult mysteries under her own name of Jennifer Rowe. Among the many children's books she has written are Crumbs!; Finders Keepers; The Timekeeper; Rowan of Rin; Rowan and the Travellers; Rowan and the Keeper of the Crystal; and Rowan and the Zebak. 2003 saw the release of the final book in the Rowan series, Rowan and the Bukshah.
Rowan of Rin was the Children's Book Council of Australia's Book of the Year for Younger Readers in 1994. Rowan and the Keeper of the Crystal was short-listed for the 1997 CBCA Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers. Rowan and the Zebak was short-listed for the same award in 2000.
Emily also wrote Teen Power Inc, a mystery adventure series that attracted a devoted following of young readers. Her most recent picture-book titles include Game Plan and Where Do You Hide Two Elephants?
First published in 2000, Deltora Quest has become a favourite with children around the world. Deltora Quest is consistently short-listed for children's choice awards, winning the 2002 YABBA and KOALA awards in the younger reader categories and the 2002 Peter McNamara Convenors' Award for Australian Speculative Fiction.
Emily comments on Deltora Quest:
I was really excited when I thought of the idea of writing Deltora Quest. At first I wanted to write a serial-type quest, a story that would go over several books. The Rowan of Rin books, which have always done quite well and which I love writing, are complete, without a continuing storyline. I really wanted to write a classic quest in stages, culminating in a final book. I had the idea of a quest involving three heroes and had worked on the manuscript for quite a while before I took it to the publisher, Scholastic Australia. I wanted to see what they thought of it and it turned out that they thought it was a great idea.
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