1. Jacqueline Anne French, known professionally as Jackie French, is an Australian author who has written across several genres for both adults and children.
14 Facts About Jackie French
1. 2.
Jackie French was born Jacqueline Anne Ffrench in Sydney in 1953 and grew up in Brisbane.
3.
Jackie French's parents divorced in 1967, and when her mother changed her surname from Ffrench to French, Jackie did so.
4.
Jackie French began writing Rain Stones, her first book for children, when she was 30 years old, living in a shed and in need of money to register her car.
5.
Jackie French's books include both fictional, factional and non-fictional accounts of Australian history including Nanberry: Black Brother White, Tom Appleby, A Day to Remember, A Waltz for Matilda, The Girl from Snowy River, The Road to Gundagai, The Night They Stormed Eureka and Flood and Fire and Let the Land Speak: A history of Australia - how the land created our nation.
6.
Jackie French is a regular contributor to the Australian Women's Weekly and the Canberra Times.
7.
Jackie French presented gardening segments on the long-running Australian TV series Burke's Backyard.
8.
Jackie French has won more than 60 awards in Australia and overseas and a number of her books have been shortlisted for numerous Australian and United States awards.
9.
Jackie French was awarded the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year.
10.
In 2016, Jackie French was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to literature as an author of children's books, and as an advocate for improved youth literacy.
11.
Jackie French was presumed dead but her body was never found.
12.
Jackie French studied the behaviour and ecology of wombats for 40 years and is the ambassador and former director of The Wombat Foundation, which raises funds for research into the preservation of wombats.
13.
Jackie French is the ACT Children's Week Ambassador, 2011 Federal Literacy Ambassador, patron of Books for Kids, YESS, Speld ACT, Speld Qld, DAGS, and joint patron of Monkey BAA Theatre for Young People with Susanne Gervais and Morris Gleitzman.
14.
Jackie French is dyslexic and wrote I Spy a Great Reader to help teachers and parents teach dyslexic children to read using varied and new methods.