Gabrielle Wang is an award-winning author and illustrator born in Melbourne of Chinese heritage. Her maternal great grandfather came to Victoria during the Gold Rush and her father from Shanghai.
Gabrielle’s first novel, The Garden of Empress Cassia, won the 2002 Aurealis Award, was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards and was a CBCA Notable Book. The Pearl of Tiger Bay was shortlisted for the 2004 Aurealis Award and The Lion Drummer was a Notable Book in the 2009 CBCA Book of the Year Awards. A Ghost in My Suitcase won the 2009 Aurealis Award, was a CBCA Notable Book, was shortlisted for the 2011 Sakura Medal, and received a Highly Commended in the 2010 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.
Gabrielle’s first young adult novel, Little Paradise, received a Highly Commended in the 2011 Prime Minister’s Awards. Gabrielle’s picture book The Race for the Chinese Zodiac was a Notable Book in the 2011 CBCA Awards and was shortlisted for the 2011 YABBA and WAYBRA Awards. She has also written four books in Penguin’s best-selling Our Australian Girl series.
Gabrielle is an ambassador for the Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge.
The Wishbird is Gabrielle’s latest book for children.