Ian Bone

Ian Bone is an Australian author. His books range from early childhood picture books through to young adult novels. He has been a fulltime writer for over twelve years and divides his time between writing his books, designing and writing on-line educational simulations for universities, teaching creative writing and making videos.

            Ian was born in Geelong in 1956 where his highlights were hitchhiking down to the beach and working at the Ford Motor Company during his summer holidays. In 1975, Ian flew from his home town to attempt teacher's college in Melbourne. Four years of fun with cameras and TV studios (studying media) were brought crashing down to earth when he had to do his teaching rounds! Ian quickly escaped the reality of classrooms, morning tea and staff meetings to enrol in the prestigious Australian Film & Television School in Sydney (1979). He completed his degree and took up a position at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation making childrens' TV. His programs included  Play School, Swap Shop, Couch Potato and Finders Keepers. (Finders Keepers was directed by Scott Hicks of Shine.) Many of these programs won national and international awards, including Best Childrens Program in the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, Shortlisted program in the Bannf Television Festival and the Australian Television Society's awards.

            It was during this time that Ian began writing fiction at night. The 'bug' grew and grew, and in 1993 he left his TV career behind to try his hand at being an author. After a number of hard, struggling years, his books began to be published.

            His Young Adult novel, The Song of an Innocent Bystander, has been a great success. It was shortlisted for the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year award in 2003 and the South Australian festival Awards for Literature in 2004. It is published in the USA by Dutton Books, in the UK by Puffin and in Germany by Ravensburger. The book has been optioned for a movie.

            Other novels by Ian which have gained success are: Sleep Rough Tonight, which was a notable book in the 2005 Childrens Book Council of Australia awards; That Dolphin Thing, which was a notable book in 2002; Tin Soldiers, which was shortlisted for the 2001 NSW Premier's Awards, and was a notable book in the 2001 CBCA awards; his picture book, Baby Days which was a notable book in 2004, Fat Boy Saves World,  which was also a notable, and was published in the USA by Simon and Schuster; Winning Back Dad, which won a Commendation at the 2000 Family Awards for Childrens Literature and was also a notable book, Blood on the Microphone which was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly awards for crime fiction in 2002 along with The Ghost of Johnny Savage, which was short-listed for the Ned Kellys in 1997; Spy Babies, Shoo Cat and Maddy in the Middle were also notable books.

            He new series for Random House Australia, Vidz, is also published in the USA by Delacorte (Random House) USA (titled: Fast Forward). There are four books in the series: A Dangerous Secret, Time Trap, The Quivering Spy and The X Factor.

            Ian has written Wiggles books, Bananas in Pyjamas books, and The Puppet a novella in the AFTER DARK series. Other titles by Ian include: Pimple-head and Curly (Walker Books UK & Aus), Shoo Cat (Omnibus) and Killer Plot.

            Ian is married, and lives in Adelaide with his partner, three growing children and an ever changing population of animals.