Barry Jonsberg author page

Barry Jonsberg biography

Barry Jonsberg is an Australian author known for his work in children’s and young adult fiction. He began his writing career after working as an English teacher. Jonsberg’s debut novel, The Whole Business with Kiffo and the Pitbull, was published in 2004 by Allen & Unwin. This book was shortlisted for the 2005 Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year: Older Readers award.

His subsequent novels include It’s Not All About YOU, Calma! (2005), which was also shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers in 2006. Jonsberg’s 2007 novel, Dreamrider, was shortlisted for the 2007 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards. In 2013, he published My Life as an Alphabet, which won the 2014 Children’s Peace Literature Award and was shortlisted for the 2014 CBCA Book of the Year: Younger Readers. The book was later published in the United States as The Categorical Universe of Candice Phee.

Jonsberg’s other works include Am I Right or Am I Right? (2007), Ironbark (2008), Blacky Blasts Back: On the Tail of the Tassie Tiger (2008), Being Here (2010), My Life as an Alphabet (2013), A Song Only I Can Hear (2018), and Catch Me If I Fall (2020). His books have been published by Allen & Unwin and have received recognition in Australia and internationally.

In 2020, A Song Only I Can Hear was shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year: Younger Readers. Jonsberg’s writing has been translated into several languages. His novel My Life as an Alphabet won the 2014 Gold Inky Award, a prize for young adult literature voted for by Australian teenagers.