Author-Illustrator Episode #09: Kirli Saunders

Kirli Saunders is a proud Gunai Woman and award-winning multidisciplinary creator and consultant. An experienced speaker and facilitator advocating for the environment, gender and racial equality, and LGBTIQA+ rights, Kirli was the NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year (2020).

Kirli's books, The Incredible Freedom Machines (2018, Scholastic), Kindred (2019, Magabala) and Bindi (2020, Magabala) have been celebrated by the Prime Minister's, QLD, WA, QLD & Victorian Premier's Literary, ABIAs, Kate Challis RAKA, Speech Pathology, ABDA and CBCA awards. Her work is published in anthologies and public art. She has 7 forthcoming titles, including Returning, a visual poetry collection following her solo exhibition with the same title.

Kirli's solo exhibition, Returning showed at SHAC Gallery in Nov-Dec 2021 and was supported by Australia Council for the Arts. Kirli's art has been exhibited in Shoalhaven and Wollongong Galleries and commissioned for public art with Google, UOW, NSW Department of Education.

Kirli's first Solo play, Going Home has been commissioned by Playwriting Australia and will take the stage in 2022. Kirli is a board member for Merrigong Theatre.

In 2022, you will find Kirli at Brisbane Writers Festival, Melbourne Writers Festival, Sydney Writers Festival, Little Scribe & Blak & Bright.

Sarah Davis is a multiple award-winning illustrator, and associate art director for Walker Books Australia. She won the CBCA Crichton Illustration Award for her first picture book, Mending Lucille, in 2009, and since then has gone on to illustrate over 50 titles, in a range of styles and genres.  She has an Honours degree in literature, and her love of language and narrative underpins her illustration work.  With each project she experiments with new ways to construct visual narratives, working across a range of media. Sarah has collaborated with many major publishing houses and commercial clients across Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the UK. An experienced presenter with a teaching background, she regularly speaks at schools, festivals and universities throughout Australia and internationally. Sarah is also proud to be an ambassador for Room to Read.