A Mixed Bag of Lollies and a Book Full of Splats!

It is wonderful to have Johanna Bell returning to the blog (see previous post here) to share insights into her latest book What is a Splat? and how its development aligns with her life and passion for writing. The spontaneity between Johanna's words and Amelia's illustrations is delightful and full of joy.

Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of university visits with creative writing students and they often ask about my career into writing. I wish I had a neat  answer but my pathway looks more like this illustration by Amelia Luscombe our recent book What is a Dot? (which was a 2025 CBCA Honour Book 😊 )

What is a Dot? - inside spread (illustrations © Amelia Luscombe)

My first career was in social research and program evaluation but when I was in my early thirties I decided I’d had enough of research and I quit my job to start a community arts studio called StoryProjects. For the next decade, I spent most of my time working on projects that elevated new voices and stories from the Northern Territory. Because I believe the form should fit the story and not the other way around, I ended up producing all kinds of works – live performances, short animations, podcasts, audio installations, public art projects, poetry collections and picture books. Alongside the community cultural development work, I was writing picture books and working on a novel called Department of the Vanishing which came out in March this year. Shortly after, my newest picture book, What’s that Splat? illustrated by the wonderful Amelia Luscombe was released. 

What is a Dot? - What’s that Splat? - cover images

It’s the first time I’ve had a book for adults and a picture book released in the same period and it’s got me thinking about multiplicity and how separate the children’s publishing industry is from the world of adult fiction.

What’s that Splat? - inside spread (illustrations © Amelia Luscombe)

When Walt Whitman wrote I am large, I contain multitudes I’m pretty sure he wasn’t referring to a 21^st century ‘portfolio career’ (AKA a professional mixed bag of lollies AKA ‘a multipotentialite’ AKA someone who still can’t decide what they want to be when they grow up). It used to make me nervous, having so many fingers in so many creative pies, but since moving to Tasmania, I’ve become more comfortable with the idea that I’m never going to stick to one lane. Even though I’ve narrowed my practice down to writing, I’m still working across poetry, short fiction, children’s picture books and novels. And I still have hopes of strengthening my visual arts muscle and one day illustrating my own words. 

There’s something about regional cities that supports multiplicity. Perhaps it’s because we don’t have the population size to allow for specialisation (and perhaps that’s true of Australia more broadly when compared with larger literary markets like Britain and the United States). Or perhaps it’s because ‘isolation breeds innovation’ and there’s no shortage of opportunities to isolate in Tasmania. 

Some would say that to survive as a writer, it helps to be a polymath. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m skilled in many areas but I am a dabbler (or some might say a dilettante). I get bored easily. I thrive on novelty and I seek out new things. I’m that person who wants to order the weirdest thing on the menu even though the wait staff give raise their eyebrows and ask ‘are you sure?’  But I’m also good at sticking with something until it’s done. That’s not to say that I pursue everything. I’ve stacks of notebooks with half-drafted children’s books which will never be published. Most of them won’t even be finished. I’d say that 90% of my written work ends up on the cutting room floor. That’s something I’ve been talking about with the uni students at UTS where I’m the 2026 writer-in-residence – the realities of writing. I get annoyed by writers who say that an idea just comes to them and they sit down and write it fluidly in one go. I know it does happen but for most of us it’s much slower and less linear. For example, What’s that Splat? which has less than 150 words was revised so many times I lost count. Amelia and I both love playful mark making and we wanted to create a sister book for What is a Dot?. I can’t remember how the idea for our second book came to us but we were both pretty excited about creating a Rorschach-like book for kids. Amelia and I are the kind of people who are constantly seeing creatures in the clouds or animals in the knots of tree trunks. I was found a piece of bark that looked like a Doberman and a Bulldog having a perplexing conversation. 😊  

Piece of bark (image credit Johanna Bell)

But I digress. The first version of the What’s that Splat? manuscript was scores of rhyming couplets. Most of them were pretty awful but the ones I liked I sent to Amelia (who lives in Rubibi/Broome) and she started on the illustrations. This is my favourite part of the picture book making process because it inevitably leads to surprises and playful conversations. I should say here that Amelia and I co-created the book. This is quite different to the traditional picture book publishing approach where an author submits a manuscript and once it’s complete it’s then sent to the illustrator. In the latter, the author often doesn’t see the illustrations until they’re complete. With co-creation you back and forth a lot informing each other’s work. 

It’s always a privilege to work closely with an illustrator and I find the process improves my writing as I get to see how my words are working (and not working!) with the images. During the development of What’s that splat? some of my favourite rhyming couplets didn’t work because the concepts were too abstract or the difference in visual scale was too great. Amelia and I worked out that even though the couplets described antonyms, the illustrations had to be part of the same world for the spreads to cohere. For example, the below spreads worked because while they were opposites, they were also of the same world.

Spreads from What’s that Splat? (illustrations © Amelia Luscombe)

And then there were couplets that I wasn’t that excited about until Amelia brought them to life through her illustrations. Like this spread 

Spread from What’s that Splat? (illustrations © Amelia Luscombe)

And this one!

Spread from What’s that Splat? (illustrations © Amelia Luscombe)

But we both knew this one was always going to be lots of fun.

Spread from What’s that Splat? (illustrations © Amelia Luscombe)

Like its sister book What is a dot? this book ends with a provocation for the young reader to create their own artwork. 

And now, what will

this next splat be?

It’s up to you.

What can you see?

 

We hope it will spur children and grownups to enjoy some splatty silliness because ‘sometimes a splat is just a splat but sometimes a splat is much more than that!’

 

Find out more about What’s that Splat?

Find out more about the illustrator on Instagram

Download teachers notes

Download activity sheets

Johanna Bell

Tasmanian author

W: https://www.johannabell.com/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/JohannaBellCreative/

I: https://www.instagram.com/johannabell__/

The 2026 Northern Primary Readers’ Cup

 What does a thylacine ghost, dry-land dog sledding, a marvellous submarine, bus-bullies, and potentially untrustworthy fish have in common?  The 2026 Northern Primary School Readers’ Cup!

On the 28^th of May, 108 excited upper primary students arrived at Hagley Farm School to participate in the 2026 Northern Primary School Readers’ Cup, vying for a chance to have their school’s name added to the trophy.

This year saw a record number of schools involved, with 20 taking part from across the north of the state from as far reaching as Cressy, Exeter, Beaconsfield, Scottsdale, Ringarooma and Flinders Island.

Students began reading the books in Term 1, with this years’ set comprising a wide range of themes and text types.

The five books read by the Readers' Cup teams

Prior to the final each school held their own event with a quiz about the books and time for each team to share a creative piece that demonstrated the message or theme of one of the books.  At school level, 382 students participated this year, with the winning team from each school going on to compete in the Final. 

We began our afternoon with the Extra Challenge - an on-the-spot, 10-minute task based on an additional book.  

Then came the Quiz – a much harder version than the one already experienced at their school event.  The quiz is weighted to be the most important part, with teams needing to show an excellent knowledge of the books.

Longford Primary School working together in the Quiz phase. (Photo credit - Jessica Jackson)

Finally, in front of a large crowd of school staff and families, these amazing teams shared their creative ideas about the book their team had chosen to showcase.  These varied from songs, to dioramas, plays, and PowerPoint presentations.  Our volunteer judges certainly had their work cut out for them!  With 20 performances to share, our teams were each aiming to enlighten us in 3 minutes or less.

Photo caption – Teams sit at the front of the audience with blankets, cushions and snacks, while watching each other on stage (Photo credit - Jessica Marston)

Students had a large and supportive crowd to perform to. (Photo credit – Jessica Marston)

Nerves were faced and the crowd was well and truly entertained, with serious and humorous moments filling the evening.

At the end of the night, we were so pleased to announce Longford Primary School as the winning school for the second year in a row, with new-comers Ringarooma finishing 2nd, and Flinders Island taking out 3rd.  

Our winners! Longford Primary School, holding their CBCA Tas Branch sponsored Petrarch’s Bookshop voucher, a set of the books supplied by the School Libraries team, and the trophy! (Photo credit - Jessica Jackson)

Across the evening, we were able to share some snippets of student feedback, which came from over 160 responses from students involved at school-level.

The following quotes capture the most common answers when students were asked about their favourite part of Readers’ Cup:

“The quiz was really fun and I made a new friend and got closer to the people in my group.”

“Learning to read better and working as a team to create a performance that we all enjoyed.”

“Exploring all the different books and seeing how they are pictured in my head.”

“Reading new books and discovering new authors.”

“Getting to read all the books and that there was such a variety of stories.”

“I loved the Readers Cup because there were lots of twists and turns and it was competitive but not too competitive.  It was really fun and challenging.  Also we had to show teamwork which I loved.”

“Getting on the stage and getting out of my comfort zone.”

“It encouraged me to read more.”

“Honestly, it was just being on a team and reading books with my friends.”

A very big thank you must go to the CBCA Tasmania Branch for generously providing Petrarch’s Bookshop vouchers for all participating schools, and of course, the winner’s prize.

We are so fortunate to have this support from the CBCA Tasmania Branch, willing school staff who go above and beyond, our dedicated volunteer judges, assistance from the School Libraries team, and of course the families involved, all enabling students to have this wonderful opportunity to celebrate books and reading together.

Jessica Marston
Teacher Librarian, Hagley Farm Primary School
Coordinator of the Northern Primary Readers’ Cup

It’s a Busy Life for Daniel Gray-Barnett

Are you busy? Read on to find out how Tasmania author and illustrator, Daniel Gray-Barnett, is juggling multiple projects and also finding time to collaborate and share his many ideas and talents.

 

Whenever someone asks me ‘How’s work?’, I tend to reply with the stock standard responses. Good. Busy. I’ve been busy. Very busy, but good.

It’s only when I actually sit down to actually look at what I’ve achieved over the past six months, that I realise how many plates have been spinning in the air and I ask myself, how?

The year kicked off with something wonderful. Come Over to My House (written by Sally Rippin & Eliza Hull, illustrated by myself) was voted in the Top 10 of The Guardian’s Best Australian Picture Books. It was an interesting voting process, to say the least, and it certainly started many valuable conversations about the value of voting for classic, legacy books (Mem Fox, I’m looking at you) or ensuring we support modern day book creators (such as myself). Certainly many of the books I grew up and loved as a child might no longer be loved or engaged with by the kids of today. I think the Top 10 was a good mix of beloved classics and newer titles and was topped by Magic Beach by Alison Lester – a winner that just about everyone could agree with.

Some of us modern book-creators used the experience to engage with our audiences by making videos set on ‘Storybook Survivor’, a fictional island where the picture book creators were vying to pass tasks and survive the voting process to the next day. I made a good friend with Andrea Rowe (author of Jetty Jumping) who has a very good sense of humour and entertained my jokes about Mem Fox’s luxury tent on the other side of the island.

The biggest project for me the past six months (and the past twelve months really) has been working on a middle-grade illustrated novel. In a bit of a career pivot, I’ve decided to shift into my writing. It’s something I’ve always been interested in but until now, haven’t found the right way to execute it. Working on children’s picture books has been the perfect way to enter the world of children’s literature and now that my audiences are getting older, working on middle-grade novels is the perfect way to continue engaging with them.

Plus, I just love reading them. They’re full of adventures, big questions and themes, friendship and imagination. Philip Pullman famously said in his Carnegie Medal acceptance speech, ‘There are some themes, some subjects, too large for adult fiction; they can only be dealt with adequately in a children’s book.’ This captures so much of why I love reading children’s novels and why I feel so drawn to now work in middle-grade fiction.

My novel (working title Going to Underbed) is a portal fantasy adventure. When ten-year-old Kit discovers that his missing Gran's stories are real and unlocks a magical portal to another world, he must master forbidden powers and defeat a tyrannical general before he loses his family and his way home forever.

I’ve completed a first draft (thanks to a six month Write Your Novel course with the Australian Writers Centre) and am spending the rest of this year revising and editing my draft to ready for submission to publishers. I’m very excited about it. The ideas for these characters and world have been stewing in my head for a few years now and I’m so glad to get them out onto the page. Working on the course has taught me a lot about the writing process and given me a community of fellow writers who I can count as brothers and sisters in arms. The fellowship of a writing group has been invaluable in seeing this project come to life. I can’t imagine writing without them.

I have one picture book coming out in August this year called The Thing About Dads (written by Deborah Frenkel of The Truck Cat fame, published by Thames & Hudson). It’s a joyful hug of an ode to dads and what makes them so special. Working on this book has been particularly personal for me, as I’m now a parent to two young kids and could relate to many of the characters and scenarios I was illustrating. I also wanted to explore more with my art for this project, so the work is a little more experimental, playful and makes use of more mixed media than I usually do. I really love how it’s turned out. I’m excited about its release in a couple of months.

Illustrations from The Thing About Dads by Daniel Gray-Barnett

I’m now working on the follow up book with the same team, called The Thing About Mums. We’ve just nailed down all the rough art and I’m about to tackle the coloured art in the next few months. 

Sketch in preparation for The Thing About Mums by Daniel Gray-Barnett 

I’m also working on another picture book about a child with a non-binary parent, with Jess Horn (Bernie Thinks in Boxes) and the team at Hardie Grant. Here’s a few early character sketches.

Character sketches by Daniel Gray-Barnett

In general, my illustration work is shifting more towards literary projects and I’ve been fortunate to work on some book covers. Stuck in the Middle by Anton Clifford-Motopi is about growing up a middle-child in a large, chaotic family and will be published by Allen & Unwin in August. A River I Must Be by Kate Foster is a moving verse novel that explores the authentic experience of autism and what it means to struggle with the pressure of masking.

In a lovely revisit to the world of Storybook Survivor, I was asked by the National Library of Australia to contribute to a book of letters which came out in May, called Postscript. A selection of remarkable letters from the library’s collection was chosen and passed on to a new set of writers as inspiration to write their own. There are letters from Jane Austen, Judith Wright and Henry Lawson, among others. 

I was, funnily enough, given correspondence between Mem Fox and Morris Gleitzman who maintained a correspondence for decades. The letters I was given seek to entertain and poke fun at each other, and themselves. For me, it represented how important friendship and camaraderie are to creatives and how vital it is to have someone else who understands the isolation and challenges of working as a creative. Andrea Rowe is one such special friend. I wrote to Andrea about the challenges of what it takes to be a modern-day book creator and how she navigates juggling family life with creating. I wanted to note on the record that Andrea received a fruit basket after our Storybook Survivor ordeal. I did not.

Other projects I’m hoping to undertake this year are finally writing a sequel to Grandma Z, which I’ve been talking about for a while now. I’ve also been trying to increase my engagement and presence on social media. I’ve noticed many publishers are looking at this when they consider which authors/illustrators they work with. Though the work is always the most important thing, many publishing teams want to work with creators who have a voice, something to say and are comfortable engaging with their audiences outside of a book.

I’ve always been an advocate for children’s literature and those that create it, but my latest Instagram videos have been focusing on Writers Festivals. They seem to have struck a chord, especially with others who have also noticed that often Writers Festivals have a wonderful adult program but limited or absent events for children. My message is that thoughtful and inclusive children’s programming is not only valuable but vital, particularly anyone that cares about the future of literature and literary events. 

Cultivating a love of reading and storytelling in children leads to adults who care about those same things; adults who read and buy books and attend writers’ festivals. Hopefully, adults who also create stories of their own. 

It astounds me that people who work in adult literature don’t necessarily connect those dots. We not only need to include children’s literature workers and creators in these conversations of programming, but we need to ensure that events are created for, and to engage with, children. Ideally, both public and school events for a wide range of ages and access points. At the end of the day, if there aren’t children in the room and they aren’t being engaged with, it’s not children’s programming and there’s room for improvement.

So the next time someone asks me how work is going, I might actually have a better answer than 'busy'. Being a dad and making these books, hopefully for my kids to read one day, is a lot to juggle but it's meaningful work. I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Here's to the rest of the year.

Daniel Gray-Barnett
Children’s Author and Illustrator

W: https://www.danielgraybarnett.com/
I: https://www.instagram.com/dgraybarnett/