Well folks, all that is left to say and do now is to bid adieu to 2025 and welcome 2026. Thank you for your support through the year. We hope you enjoy sharing our little wise ass's adventures with your little wise asses ;-) The stories that we grow up with really do matter so thank you for broadening your grandchildren's, children's, students' and readers' horizons. Given the way the future is panning out, they will no doubt need it. The way we live and work today would have

I remember reading a case study on Madonna at university. Believe it or not, this was for my Master's Degree in Commerce …   The central theme was that Madonna was one of the few pop music stars who had managed to carve out a decades long career in what is usually a fiercely trendy and youth oriented scene. This was due to one thing that Madonna did better than any other pop singer at the time: Every ten years or so, she completely reinvented herself.   I remember saying to m

Reeta and Darren - Sketching out the first Willow the Wonderer storybook Autumn is the perfect season for reflection Summer has come and gone and autumn is taking hold of our not-so-small island paradise of Australia. The chapter on 2024 is not only underway but has almost reached the half way mark. Yes, it is scarely two months away! The cooler change forces us indoors, creating the space for instrospection and reflection - and that is where my mind has mostly been these pas

2024 has a nice futuristic ring to it, does it not? To my ear at least it sounds like the distant future we grew up hearing so many fantasies about has just now come around, and landed right at our doorstop. But does it feel futuristic? To those who have lived through several decades at least, it surely feels futuristic - what with the internet and the miniturisation and digitisation of all things in our lives, it's hard to deny that much in the way we live has changed.   Ind

It's a momentous day: Darren has started working on the very last spread for the third Willow the Wonderer picture book. The end is in sight! The picture book creation process Developing each picture book is easily six months of full time effort, involving writing, editing, book design, illustrating , typesetting, and then finally getting everything together for print production. So when we reach milestones like this, it is very much a cause for celebration! (And in case any

Willow the Wonderer picture books have now sold and been warmly embraced bu readers all over Australia!

Yours truly turns the big 40 this year. As one of my statistically inclined colleagues put it at his 40th, 'half way there!' I've never been one to celebrate birthdays and in fact have no recollection of ever having a birthday party. But I remember musing once in my 30s (when turning 40 seemed like an abstract construct) that I will mark my 40th with a huge party. There would be no half measures either : I'd hire out the iconic Wylies Baths in Coogee with it's gorgeous rock

As yet another year draws to an end, we wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone in our community : Our customers, booksellers, buyers, editors, printers, teachers, industry affiliates, colleagues, friends and family. A heartfelt thanks for all your support over the past two years, as we embarked on a whole new (ad)venture to create beautiful stories that plant seeds of wisdom; seeds that we hope will blossom with time and guide our young readers in their journey

After months of searching we finally took the leap last October and bought a van! The plan was to embark on a series of book tours around Australia to meet some hardy booksellers and learn the book trade, whilst promoting our new picture book series, Willow the Wonderer . The trip soon morphed into a fantastic lifestyle where we not only got to connect with great local businesses but also get a taste of a free bohemian lifestyle of yester years. We had not even converted our