Instagram story viewer> @deborah_abela_> Tagged

Deborah Abela Author

@deborah_abela_

undefined

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

‘Reading as a Contact Sport’: the theme of my upcoming Maurice Saxby lecture at @cbcansw Sydney on 14 November. My dynamic and dedicated friend and colleague @deborah_abela_ will be presented with the Lady Cutler award on the same evening. If you’re in town, we would love you to join us for a discussion on the state of literacy and ways to incorporate social, interactive and adventurous elements into our reading culture.

Booking link in bio and: https://members.cbcansw.org.au/public/event/69af8b78812d8cb4ac354f81/lady-cutler-award-maurice-saxby-lecture

Pics by @ambermelody

#childrensliteracy #cbca #loveozmg #mglit #kidsbooks

111

16

Happy Love Your Bookshop Day! Thank you to all the bookstores who’ve brought me community, friendship and a career. If we don’t support our independent bookstores, they disappear. So here’s an idea… support your bookstores by buying books, and give them lots and lots of love. #loveyourbookshopday

48

7

Deborah Abela, one of Australia’s most passionate and dedicated advocates of children’s literature, is the recipient of The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) NSW Branch's prestigious 2026 Lady Cutler Award.

This biennial award recognises distinguished service rendered well beyond the professional sphere to elevate and enrich the landscape of children’s literature in Australia. It celebrates individuals who have made significant contributions by raising the standards of children’s literature, promoting its value within the wider community, supporting writers and illustrators, and serving as trusted champions of literacy and storytelling.

Deborah Abela embodies this spirit with a career that spans over two decades of tireless commitment, advocacy, and leadership.

192

29

Love receiving new books each term. This is a collection of standing orders and student requests…

Picture book collection:
#thebettermachine - when two children find the better machine, surely it will make life so much better. Thankfully they realise in the end, what they already have is all they really need. @lisanicolauthor & @michelstreich_illustrator
#invisibledogs - How wonderful is it to have a dog of your very own, an invisible one. No mess to clean up, a friend whenever you need, and although he is very large he fits into your small apartment. But when you find someone who needs help with their real dog, what a wonderful adventure all 3 of you can go on. @kiahthomas @jakemintonillustration
#theplaneovermybackyard - living under the flight path is exciting, but flying on one of the planes for real is even more fun. Follow along for a step by step adventure of going on a holiday in an aeroplane. @tomjellett
#weareallthankful - a book about all the reasons in the world to be thankful. Written by P Crumble @jon__bentley
#alltheskieswesee - a beautiful, descriptive picturesque book about all the skies of Australia, using evocative language to really remind us to LOOK UP and appreciate our environment. @bonsai.gaiberg @nickrixart

Beautiful creatives - thank you to all the authors and illustrators.

@scholastic_au @athelstane.publicschool
@jamesfoleybooks
@janejolly.1
@deborah_abela_
@eva.amores
@matt.cosgrove

14

4

Hallo werte Buchgemeinde,

hier sind wieder 5 unbekannte Bücher bei meinen #unknownbloodybooks

Welches Buch davon spricht euch am meisten an?

#bookstagramde#buchblog

67

13

Check out this lineup!! I want to go to this school!

26

3

A super-fun event at @gleebooks to finish up Book Week. Our monthly writing critique group stretches from Hobart in the south to Utrecht, Netherlands in the north, so to get all five of us in one city, talking about writing groups and process with a group of uber-librarians and booksellers is a first! Swipe through for the fun. So many good humans in one room. What a fine corner of the storytelling game we are lucky enough to occupy. Happy Book Week, all. Rest up.

Big thanks to Rachel, Angie and the @gleebooks_kids team for being tireless supporters of Australian authors. And for being a whole bunch of fun. And thank you to @ambermelody for her beautiful photography!

#bookweek #kidlit #mglit #loveozmg #cbcabookweek

161

29

Another amazing event at Gleebooks, hosted by Book-Seller Extraordinaire Rachel. This time, it was with the uber-talented, uber-awarded, uber-prolific, uber-hilarious, and mostly uber-inspirational Uber Book Group. @deborah_abela_ @zannilouise @liantannerbooks @tristanbancksbooks and my almost-twin @saraharmstrongwriter I’ve been mulling over many little gems this morning that will no doubt creep into my own writing (don’t forget the setting, push the characters a little bit further than you’re comfortable with, pacing is key), and particularly loved chatting with Lian about the magic of book groups, with @annefarrellauthor about patiently waiting to hold our own books in our hands, and the very happy surprise of seeing @thereadingteacher2025 Ronelle after many, many years. Grateful to have the Ubers so willing to share secrets of their success. 🥰🙏🥰

23

5

A ripper of a night with KidLit royalty, the Uber Writing Group. 🎉🙌🤩

MC Rachel led with a roll call of their impressive credentials, and then the Ubers, @deborah_abela_ @liantannerbooks @tristanbancksbooks @saraharmstrongwriter and @zannilouise shared the wisdom and nuggets each has gained via their inspiring collaboration.The banter was top notch and the packed room, spellbound!

It was a treat to catch up with friends from way back (wonderful @spc.strathfield Teacher Librarians Helen and Anne Marie), and to meet @jbroughauthor from the UK, and of course to see many familiar faces too.

Well done @gleebooks_kids on a truly magical event!

55

17

That’s a wrap on the first year of the LitUp program!

Over 6,000 Australian students were reached through 82 inspiring live literature events as part of theLitUp pilot program.

With the support of @writing.australia and the @copyrightagency_ Cultural Fund, the LitUp pilot program saw 13 Australian children’s authors visit 16 communities and engage with 37 organisations across
New South Wales and Queensland.

We were thrilled to have leading Australian authors and creators participate in the pilot program including @jamesfoleybooks, @lachnroll, @katrina_nannestad, @deborah_abela_, @gusgordonbooks, @aleesah_darlison, @dubleffler, @jackheathwriter, @samibayly, @katejoltemple, @meredithcostain, and @charlottebarklabooks.

Thanks to the support of the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation, the program also provided book packs of visiting authors’ works to communities, with over 1,100 books purchased from 11 Australian bookshops through the program.

A big thank you to everyone who made this year’s program possible – stay tuned for the announcement of our second round participants in the LitUp program!

150

11

An amazing celebration of Australian literature at the 2026 Book of the Year Awards. Well done to the amazing team. Congratulations to all the talented authors and illustrators. @statelibrarynsw @cbcansw @cbcaustralia @thechildrensbookshop

26

5

🔥 What a big finish to the Sydney stint! 🔥

I ran a workshop at Parramatta High with some lovely and super keen Year 7 students. (Thank you, Eufemia, for the awesome photos and for making it all possible!)

Then a train dash to the city for a @kinokuniya_sydney event, where the most enthusiastic and well-organised staff made me feel right at home! I also bumped into the talented @charsiewspace, all the way from Singapore!

There are plenty of signed copies of #theFriendshipParadoxYA now available at Kino — and since the book has made it to the @premiersreadingchallengensw list, I hope it’s a handy location to get your copy. 😉

The fun times continued the next morning, as I caught up with Anna — the super-supportive @allenandunwin publisher of The Friendship Paradox.

And I couldn’t miss the @cbcaustralia Book of the Year Award ceremony at the State Library, where comics won big this year (!!!), and where I could celebrate my favourite creators. (WA represent!) 🙌

A shout-out to Jackie from CBCA Kids’ Corner publication, where my book is featured this month. So nice to finally meet in person! 😁

Thanks for having me, Sydney! 😎

⭐️This epic trip was made possible thanks to the generous support of @cits_wa ⭐️

#loveozya #aussiecomics #loveyourbookshop #booktour

35

2