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Children’s Book Illustrator & Author | Daniel Gray-Barnett

@dgraybarnett

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Children’s book illustrator + author
Chasing characters that feel alive, funny & real
16+ books • Penguin, Quarto + more
📬 Let’s make something ↓

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

With Halloween creeping just around the corner, here are our spooky reading recommendations:

👻 Monsterlogica by @martinmaudsley and illustrated by @victoriatoppingstudio

👻 Secrets of the Vampire by @elsaw18 and Julie Legere and illustrated by @lauraperezgranel

👻 Spooky Poems Aloud by @josephcoelhoauthor and illustrated by @dgraybarnett

👻 The Books of Frights for Spooky Nights by @leisastewartsharpe and illustrated by Eva Sanchez Gomez

👻 World of Weird by @tomadams_writer and illustrated by @celsiuspictor

👻 Boo! By Clive Gifford and illustrated by @rohan.daniel.eason

👻 Young Oracle Tarot by @mirrortarot and illustrated by @ananovaes.art

👻 Illuminightmare by @_luceab_ and illustrated by @_carnovsky_

👻 Haunted USA by @halexanderbooks and illustrated by @sam_kalda

👻 The Atlas of Afterlives by @emilyhawkinsbooks and illustrated by @manasawii.studio

#spookybooks #halloweenbooks #kidshalloweenbooks #scarybooks #halloween

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THE 2026 KIDS BOOK FEST STORY COMPETITION

One of the highlights of Kids Book Fest was the Story Competition! The finalists joined us on Friday afternoon for a special showcase where our authors read aloud all of the stories and poems shortlisted in the 2026 Kids Book Fest Story Competition.
On Saturday, Andy Griffiths presented prizes to all the highly commended and winning entries.

Congratulations to everyone who entered, we were blown away by the creativity and imagination of all the young writer and illustrators who participated! Congratulations to all the finalists and our overall winners Olivia and Eddie.

We can’t wait to see what you all write and draw next time!

A big thank you to @cazgoodwin0 @emma.bowd.au @melanielabrooyauthor @dgraybarnett Annabelle Hale @andrearowe_coastwriter and @waywardfancy for bringing the stories to life at the read aloud!

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Books I’m reading to my sons to help them in becoming good global citizens 💛 Part #1

Books mentioned:

‘Whoever You Are’ by Mem Fox and illustrated Leslie Staub (published by Scholastic)

‘Welcome’ by Alison Green and illustrated by Axel Scheffler (published by Scholastic)

‘We Are All People’ by Zanni Louise and illustrated by Sinead Hanley (published by Five Mile Books)

‘The World We Can Build’ by Eliza Hull and Sally Rippen, illustrated by Daniel Gray-Barnett (published by Hardie Grant)

‘Everybody!’ by Elise Gravel (published by Scholastic)

‘If I was Prime Minister’ by Beck and Rob Feiner

‘The World Awaits’ by Tomos Roberts and illustrated by Nomoco (published by Harper Collins)

‘Somebody’s Land’ by Adam Goodes and Ellie Laing, illustrations by David Hardy (published by Allen and Unwin)

‘How to Help When You Really Want To Help’ by Davina Bell and illustrated by Hilary Jean Tapper (published by Hachette Australia)

#picturebookswelove #booksforkids #globalcitizen #kidslit

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I love when I come across hidden gems at the library - and this one is especially awesome.

Alexander lives in his mums pouch but she loves storing other things in there. He tries to figure out a system to organise it all, but Alexander’s mum keeps filling it up. So reluctantly, Alexander decides maybe it is time to move into his own room.

Little does Alexander know that sometimes parents know exactly what they need to do to help prompt their little ones to do the thing that’s scaring them.

I loved this book, so much so that it has gone onto my ‘To Be Bought’ pile. A brilliant story accompanied by Daniel Gray-Barnett’s epic illustrations.

#picturebookswelove #kidslit

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Kids’ Bookfest was a blast!

There were heaps of great sessions, including an Illustrator Battle the likes of which the world will never see again. Until the next Kid’s Book Fest, where there’ll hopefully be something similar.

Jaye and her team are flippin legends for hosting this great two day event. 🙏🙏

#literacy #ozkidlit #kidsbookfest

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📚🥳 YAY for two AMAZING days of storytelling BY kids and FOR kids at the Melbourne Kids Book Fest ❣️ HUGE thanks to Jaye @marymartinbooks and her organisers (Kat, Nicole and Andrea) plus @little_bookroom for an outstanding weekend❣️ ⬆️ ⬆️ See my stories for highlights from the program, which was bursting with opportunities for kids of all ages to nurture their own creativity and be inspired by Australian kidlit creators.
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🥰 I had possibly WAY too much FUN with @andrearowe_coastwriter and @dgraybarnett in our Hijacked! story mash-up session on Friday, where I feel we may have slightly overdelivered on the "high energy chaos and fun" side of our brief . . . but I promise we did foster imagination and storytelling 😂😎🖋📚
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🥰 It was an honour to read finalists' stories in the kids' Story Writing Competition to a captive audience. I was particularly excited to see the story that I read, 'Apple Falling' (by 5 year old Christopher Tanoyo), awarded Highly Commended. It brought back fond memories of my 4 year old self, following my mum around the house and narrating stories to her every day!! Little did I know that this would be the first glimpse of my future career as a children’s author many decades later! 😊
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🥰 The weekend was also a fabulous opportunity to catch up with creative friends, and make lovely new connections with creators I'd only previously known online. Happy kidlit days indeed 🥰
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📷 photo of Christopher shared with permission ☺️
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#mkbf2026
#melbournekidsbookfest
#australianauthors
#australianillustrators
#emmabowd

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Such a super way to find story sunshine on a rainy Saturday! Throw together a bunch of storytellers, and open up the fun to kids who are keen to read, write and illustrate at the inaugural Melbourne Kida Book Fest!

From illustrator battles to poetry workshops, meet the author moments, and behind the scenes study making ... this has been a super two days at this sold-out family event.

Hurrah to all, and happy birthday to @jakemintonillustration who won the illustrator battle!

Sorry I had to hightail it out of there before the last event but there was a lot of joy in the room at @southgate_melb with @marymartinbooks and @little_bookroom

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We may look like humble picture book authors & illustrators, but we're secretly pantomime superstars.

Someone get @emma.bowd.au @dgraybarnett and I acting agents as we're destined for international stardom after yesterdays HIJACK storytime.

Or ... perhaps not 🤭🤣 but we sure had fun!

Three of our unsuspecting picture books were ambushed by props, rearranged by prompts and rewritten by the kids of MELBOURNE KIDS BOOK FEST! (Really those kids were that stars of the show with their raucous, reactive and reassembled story ... our stories had no idea what was going on)

Big hurrah to @emma.bowd.au for her script wrangling, @dgraybarnett for Illustrating under pressure ... and I was just here to holler, howl, cooee, pull faces and silly seaweed dance with a bunch of beaut families at @southgate_melb with @marymartinbooks

#melbournekidsbookfest

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Story wrangling with these fabulous folks at MELBOURNE KIDS BOOK FEST yesterday at @southgate_melb was a tonne of fun. And we're back for more today.

Thanks @marymartinbooks for making the story magic happen for Melbourne's kids!

@emma.bowd.au @dgraybarnett @melanielabrooyauthor @benwoodillustrator @mrandrewmcdonald @tess_moh

#melbournekidsbookfest #ozkidlit

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Kids Book Fest is on!

This Saturday is the mega Illustrator Battle! And I’ll be back just in time for it. Assuming I’ve done the international time zone calculations correctly. It’s fifty-fifty.

Huge thanks to @marymartinbooks and @little_bookroom for bringing this excellent festival back. Always a blast!

#writersofinstagram #ozkidlit #authorlife #KidsBookFest

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🕵️‍♂️ Hey, hey let's hijack the school holidays with some story hijinks!

📚 The Melbourne Kids Book Fest is almost here with two fabulous days for families on Fri 2 and Sat 3 October @southgate_melb with thanks to @marymartinbooks @little_bookroom

🫆I'm joining @emma.bowd.au and @dgraybarnett as we invite young readers to help us wrangle characters who hijack our books to make their own mad-cap story. We'll need all the help we can get from quick-thinking, creative kids to control the story chaos!

📓There's a host of other incredible creatives sharing sensational sessions just for kids too like @childrenslaureate @andygbooks

🙃 Come join us for some good old book-loving, story cheering fun for this inaugural festival created just for kids.

📇 Bookings essential. All the details in my bio!

#melbournekidsbookfest #childrensliterature #southgate #schoolholidaysmelbourne #loveozkidlit

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