Emily Rodda Popular Books

Emily Rodda Biography & Facts

Jennifer June Rowe, (born 4 April 1948), is an Australian author. Her crime fiction for adults is published under her own name, while her children's fiction is published under the pseudonyms Emily Rodda and Mary-Anne Dickinson. She is well known for the children's fantasy series Deltora Quest, Rowan of Rin, Fairy Realm, Teen Power Inc., the Rondo trilogy and The Three Doors trilogy, and her latest His Name Was Walter. Her crime fiction includes the Verity Birdwood and Tessa Vance series. Biography Jennifer Rowe was born in Sydney, New South Wales, on 2 April 1948, and raised with two younger brothers in Sydney's North Shore. Her father was Jim Oswin, the founding general manager of ATN7 in Sydney, and was responsible for classic 1960s TV shows such as My Name's McGooley, What's Yours? and The Mavis Bramston Show. She attended Abbotsleigh School for Girls on the Upper North Shore of Sydney. She attained her Masters of Arts in English Literature at the University of Sydney in 1973. Rowe's first job was assistant editor at Paul Hamlyn publishing. She later worked at Angus and Robertson Publishers, where she remained for fourteen years as editor, senior editor, managing director, deputy publisher and finally publisher. During this time she began writing children's books under the pseudonym Emily Rodda (her grandmother's name). Her first book, Something Special, was published in 1984 and won the Australian Children's Book Council Book of the Year for Younger Readers Award. She went on to win that award a record six times. From 1984 to 1992, Rowe continued her career in publishing, then as editor of the Australian Women's Weekly while writing novels in her 'spare time'. In 1994 Rowe became a full-time writer. She now divides her working day between consultancies for book publishers and her own writing. She lives in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales with her husband Bob Ryan and her four children. She enjoys reading murder mystery novels, which have inspired her to add mysterious plots and hidden clues to her works. Rowe's Verity Birdwood murder mysteries for adults, written under her own name are: Grim Pickings (1988) (made into an Australian TV mini-series), Murder by the Book, Death in Store, The Makeover Murders, Stranglehold, and Lamb to the Slaughter. Later she also wrote about Homicide Detective Tessa Vance in Suspect (also published as Deadline) and Something Wicked, and both books were incorporated as episode story lines in the Australian TV-show Murder Call. Rowe also edited a collection of crime stories Love Lies Bleeding and contributed to the 1997 "Crimes for Summer" collection, Moonlight Becomes You. Emily Rodda The most notable of her children's works, authored under the pseudonym Emily Rodda, are the series Deltora Quest, Teen Power Inc., Fairy Realm, Star of Deltora and Rowan of Rin. The pseudonym is based on her grandmother's name. The Deltora Quest series has been published in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Japan, Italy, Brazil, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United Kingdom, with total worldwide sales across all books in excess of 18 million. A Deltora Quest anime series was broadcast on Japanese television in early 2007. Among her other successful novels is the 1990 science fiction novel Finders Keepers, which was made into a television series called The Finder, and the Teen Power Inc. series (re-published as The Raven Hill Mysteries), a mystery series involving six teenagers. Both of these are written for young adults. Rodda's Star of Deltora series is set in the same world as Deltora Quest, The Three Doors and Rowan of Rin, and focuses on a girl, Britta, who wants to be a trader like her father and sail the nine seas. The first book, Shadows of the Master, was released on 1 August 2015, the second book, Two Moons, on 1 November 2015, the third book, The Towers of Illica, on 1 April 2016, and the fourth and final book, The Hungry Isle, on 1 September 2016. Rodda has written two children's fantasy novels released by HarperCollins Australia: The Shop at Hooper's Bend was released on 7 August 2017, and His Name Was Walter was released on 27 July 2018. Awards 1985 – Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA): Junior Book of the Year – Something Special 1987 – CBCA: Junior Book of the Year – Pigs Might Fly 1989 – CBCA: Book of the Year for Younger Readers – The Best-Kept Secret 1991 – CBCA: Book of the Year for Younger Readers – Finders Keepers 1994 – CBCA: Book of the Year for Younger Readers – Rowan of Rin 1995 – The Dromkeen Medal 1997 – CBCA: Honour Book for Younger Readers – Rowan and the Keeper of the Crystal 1999 – Dymock's Children's Choice Awards: Favourite Australian Younger Reader Book – Rowan of Rin Series 2000 – COOL Awards Fiction for Younger Readers Award for Bob The Builder and the Elves 2003 – YABBA award (VIC children's choice) – Deltora Quest 2 2002 – KOALA award (NSW children's choice) – Deltora Quest series 2002 – Aurealis Awards: Peter McNamara Convenors' Award – Deltora Quest series 2002 – WA Young Reader's Book Awards: Most Popular Book – Deltora Quest – The Forests of Silence 2003 – COOL Awards Fiction for Younger Readers Award for the Deltora Quest 2 series 2004 – COOL Awards Fiction for Younger Readers Award for the Deltora Quest 3 series 2008 – Aurealis Awards Best Children's Novel for The Wizard of Rondo 2012 – Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers, honour, for The Golden Door 2013 – KOALA Award Fiction for young readers, winner, for The Golden Door 2014 – KOALA Award Fiction for young readers, honour, for The Third Door 2018 – The Goodest Prize – The Shop at Hoopers Bend 2019 – Companion of the Order of Australia for services to literature 2019 – CBCA: Book of the Year for Younger Readers – His Name Was Walter 2019 – Prime Minister's Literary Award for Children's literature – His Name Was Walter Select bibliography Fiction as Jennifer Rowe Verity Birdwood series (1987–1995) Tessa Vance series (1998) Angela's Mandrake & Other Feisty Fables (2000) [published in the UK as Fairy Tales for Grown-Ups (2002)] Fiction edited as Jennifer Rowe Love Lies Bleeding (Allen & Unwin, 1994), anthology of crime short fiction Non-fiction as Jennifer Rowe The Commonsense International Cookery Book (1978) The Best of Women's Weekly Craft (Ed. Jennifer Rowe, 1989) Novels as Emily Rodda Something Special (1984) Pigs might Fly (1986) (also published as The Pigs are flying) The Best-kept Secret (1988) Finders Keepers (1990) and sequel The Timekeeper (1992) Teen Power Inc. series (1994–1999) (re-published as The Raven Hill Mysteries 2006) Fairy Realm series (1994–2006) (also published as the Fairy Charm series) Rowan of Rin series (1993–2003) The Julia Tapes (1999) Deltora Quest series (2000–2009) (3 series plus supplementa.... Discover the Emily Rodda popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Emily Rodda books.

Best Seller Emily Rodda Books of 2024

  • The Hats of Marvello synopsis, comments

    The Hats of Marvello

    Amanda Graham

    A delightfully fantastical story for middlegrade readers that sparkles with magic and mystery. Perfect for Emily Rodda fans.No matter how much Olive longs for a pet rabbit, it's ne...

  • Melody Trumpet synopsis, comments

    Melody Trumpet

    Gabrielle Tozer

    'SASSY AND FUN, MELODY TRUMPET IS FILLED WITH FRIENDSHIP, HEART AND HUMOUR.' Deb Abela, awardwinning author of The Most Marvellous Spelling Bee MysteryAs the daughter of global mus...

  • The Shop at Hoopers Bend synopsis, comments

    The Shop at Hoopers Bend

    Emily Rodda

    'Rodda is a master storyteller . . . This is a beautiful, compelling story' Books+Publishing, four starsWhen Quil Medway gets on the train, she thinks she knows where and howher jo...

  • Copycat synopsis, comments

    Copycat

    Kelli Anne Hawkins

    A funny and thrilling mystery from the author of The School for Talking Pets and BirdbrainThere are some things about Seagulls Nest that 11yearold Skye Starling likes ...Egg sandwi...

  • Beyond the Edge of the Map synopsis, comments

    Beyond the Edge of the Map

    A.L. Tait

    Quinn Freeman may have won the race around the world, but when a new enemy appears he must travel beyond the edge of the map once more.Quinn is back! He finished his race around th...

  • Night Ride into Danger synopsis, comments

    Night Ride into Danger

    Jackie French

    Six mysterious passengers and seven dark secrets. Who can be trusted?It's a dark and dangerous journey for the Cobb and Co night mail coach, but when his coachdriver father is inju...