Zana Fraillon

Fraillon was born in Melbourne, Australia, though she spent a lot of her early childhood in San Francisco, California. She’s said that she’s always been an avid reader, and she believes this is because her extreme nearsightedness wasn’t diagnosed until she was seven years old. She studied history and ultimately became a teacher, and though she wrote for fun throughout her life, it wasn’t until she began writing picture books for and with her young son that a friend suggested she should try getting one published. Though she published several picture books, most of her books are for middle grade readers. Many deal with various human rights abuses. The Bone Sparrow is her best-known work, and it won an Amnesty CILIP Honor for portraying the issues facing the Rohingya people. Fraillon lives in Melbourne.