About
Pip Harry is an Australian children’s author and journalist. Her middle grade novel, The Little Wave, won the CBCA 2020 Book of the Year Award and the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year. It was shortlisted for the 2020 NSW Premier's Literary Awards – Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature. Her young adult novels include I’ll Tell You Mine, Head of the River, and Because of You, shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year Awards: Older Reader, Victorian Premier's Literary Award and Queensland Literary Awards. Her latest novels include Are You There, Buddha? a CBCA Notable and shortlisted for the 2022 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, and August & Jones.
+ Why I write books for kids
When I was 20 and riding a train around Europe, I started scribbling a story about a teenage boy in a notebook. When I got home, I typed it up and sent it out to agents with all the youthful confidence of a just turned 21-year-old. Although that book never found a publisher, it did light a fire in me. I wanted to be an author and tell stories for young people.
On my 30th birthday I enrolled in a creative writing night class at UTS in Sydney. I would go after my day job at a weekly magazine, and even though I was exhausted and had written all day, I was excited and energised. In my final year I was published for the first time in the UTS Anthology - a short story called Dingo Creek. After 10 years at the magazine coalface writing entertainment and lifestyle pieces, I decided to go out on my own as a freelance health and travel writer. It remains the best career decision I've ever made. And it gave me lots of time to write fiction, volunteer and travel.
My debut young adult novel, I’ll Tell You Mine (2012) was inspired by a term I spent in a Melbourne boarding school as an authority-challenged teenager. My years spent in a boat as a rower, and later on the banks of the river as a coach, informed the writing of my second novel, Head of the River (2014), which looks at competition, class, and sport in Australian society. Because of You (2017) was sparked by several wonderful and affirming years volunteering for Word Association, a creative writing workshop for people experiencing homelessness.
I wanted to try something new and push myself as a writer, so I wrote The Little Wave (2019) in free verse. It's about a Manly school that sets out to bring a country class to the city for a beach visit. It was inspired by the real life Royal Far West program, which supports country children and the Beach to Bush surf education program.
After a six year stint as an expat in Singapore, my family has relocated back to Sydney. I'm passionate about beautifully written YA and MG books, travelling, children's literacy, sharing stories, open water swimming and chocolate.
My latest middle grade books, Are You There Buddha? and August & Jones are out now.