About Thalia
Thalia grew up on a farm on the outskirts of Melbourne with a mum who tried to save battery hens by on-selling them as backyard chickens. Her dad worked as an industrial chemist while also growing strawberries, carrots and Christmas trees on the farm. It was not unusual to find plant shoots in the freezer, or the hair dryer missing because it was needed to heat one of her dad’s experiments. Thalia's childhood showed her the magic that can happen when science and nature combine with human creativity.
Thalia’s books have been sold into countries around the world including Brazil, the USA, Canada, Turkey, Italy, Germany and China.
Her first venture beyond series writing was a collection of short stories called Head Spinners: six stories to twist your brain. One story in the collection, "It Began with a Tingle", was a finalist in the Children’s Fiction 2011 Aurealis Awards.
After sixteen years as a tree changer in regional Victoria, Thalia has recently returned to Melbourne with with her husband, their two children and two black cats. Campbell Mattinson is a respected wine critic and award winning biographer who draws on literary techniques to bring his subjects to life. His debut novel, We Were Not Men, has just been released. The two have spent years working in the same home office together.
Thalia's latest release is the final book in The Lifespan of Starlight trilogy; all three books are available in bookshops or online.
Download a high-res author photo.
Online interviews:
Australian SF Snapshot Project
Fostering the child within, Neos Kosmos
It's just a matter of time, Wangaratta Chronicle
17 Comments
Reader Comments (17)
hi i think your books are great!!!! :)
hi Thalia im your bigest fan of your go girl books i have read them all at my school i haft to do a report on your favorite book and i choose go girl books and i have done a report on all the books that you have writtin on and my teacher thoght it was the best book report i hav ever seen and so i was very proud but now i need to do a project on your favorite author so i choose you but i haft to go now i hope you keep writting go girl books from your bigest fan.
hi Thalia my name is Jessica i a 12 yrs old and i go to Doncaster Secondary Collage. I'm a a big fan of all your books i have just recently read Step Up And Dance. i did this book for a school oral presentation!! i would like to ask you a few questions if that is alright?? well how old are you?? whats your fave book? well byee for now jess xox
Hi Jessica,
Thanks for your post! I'm glad you like Step Up and Dance - it's one of my favourites. Your oral presentation sounds very cool.
To answer your questions: I'm 36 (born in 1974).
And my fave book... hmmm.... hard to pick. I'd normally say, 'The Chrysalids' by John Wyndham, but I'm reading 'The Hunger Games' by Suzanne Collins right now and the only thing stopping me from reading all day is that I don't want it to end!
Anyway - hope all is well - and keep reading Jessica!
Best wishes,
Thalia
hi i love go girls series and for homework we have do a biography on our fav author. so if you dont mind, what primary school did you go to? anonymous :-)
Hey there anonymous ;-)
Glad to hear how much you are enjoying the Go Girl series.
I went to Monbulk Primary School. It's on the outskirts of Melbourne. Some of the scenes in Go Girl stories are set in that school, at least in my mind. The scenes in Kiss Chasey where they are playing chasey are in Monbulk PS - I think I mention the smell of the pine needles from the pine tree area that used to be there.
Good luck with your homework, and let me know how you go! You're welcome to ask more questions if needed.
All the best,
Thalia
hi thanks for getting back to me
and yes you did mention the smell of pine needles in Kiss Chasey
anyway how many books have you written?
thanks heeps anonymous ;-)
Hey there again ;-)
I've written ten Go Girl books and fifteen overall - the extras are on the site under Girlfriend Fiction and Other Books if you need titles... oh, and that includes the latest one too Head Spinners.
Sounds like your homework is humming along...
All best,
Thalia
Hey Thalia I'm doing a fact file about your book Dancing Queen and I was wondering why did you write that book? Thanks, byee
Hey there,
Why did I write Dancing Queen?
Basically I wrote it because writing and dancing are two of my favourite things - the way Charlie is shy but finds a way to express herself through her dancing is very much how i feel about writing. The moment when she is asked to audition but finds that she is too shy is very real for me - so it's great when she manages to dance. I've been contacted by readers who feel shy themselves, and also found a connection with Charlie.
Feel free to ask more questions - and good luck with your fact file!!
Bye for now,
Thalia
Thanks for helping me Thalia!
hi thalia im just wondering what day and date where you born?
Hey there - I was born on 21 March 1974.
Good luck with the book report!
Thalia
When we're you born in and what month as well.
It is for my homework.
Charles
Hey there Charles - I was born in Melbourne on 21 March 1974.
Let me know if you need any more info for you homework.
Hope it goes well from here,
Thalia
Hi Thalia, I'm doing a report on your book from the go girl series 'Kiss Chasey.' If you don't mind I would like to know - what motivated you to write the novel, your purpose for writing the novel and your personal beliefs and values?
Thank you so much, I'm a huge fan of your work.
Kate.
Hi Kate,
Thanks for your post! I've replied to your email already, but here's another copy of my response.
Kiss Chasey was based on an event that happened to me in real life - I was playing a chasey game in grade 6 and the boy I was chasing fell over and broke his collar bone. He thought I'd tripped him and I felt terrible. We weren't actually playing kiss chasey but the fact that he was a boy (and I think I liked him a little) made it stick in my memory.
So - decades later - when I came to write the story, I deliberately turned it into a kiss chasey game, so that I could look at this topic (not necessarily of kissing but of pre-teen girls and boys being interested in each other). As you know from reading the book - no kissing actually occurs and this was on purpose too. I wanted to explore all the things that someone can feel and that could happen before anyone comes to their first kiss - which for lots of people can be much later in life. I was 15 before I first kissed a boy.
I think also there is a lot of talk in kids' TV about boyfriends and girlfriends etc and I wanted to explore it all through the eyes of modern day kids. I feel as if TV and ads can sometimes put pressure on kids to think they need to start 'liking' someone and the main purpose of the story was to show that there is no hurry - everyone should wait until the time is right for them.
Personally, for me, it is the relationship that is important (eg, I deliberately made sure that Becky and Callum were friends) and not so much the 'numbers' such as age or how many people you may or may not kiss. I'm more likely to discourage someone who's 18 from kissing someone they don't really 'like', than two people who are younger and who both like and respect each other.
I hope this all makes sense?
Feel free to ask more questions or ask for me to clarify anything I've said. It's an interesting but complex topic - which is why it was a good one to explore in a story rather than just listing black-and-white 'right' and 'wrong'.
Thanks again for your email and good luck with your school report!
Best wishes,
Thalia