Emily Rodda

Jennifer June Rowe, AC is an Australian author. Her crime fiction for adults is published under her own name, while her children's fiction is published under the pseudonyms Emily Rodda and Mary-Anne Dickinson. Jennifer Rowe was raised with two younger brothers in Sydney's North Shore. Her father was Jim Oswin, the founding general manager of ATN7 in Sydney, and was responsible for classic 1960s TV shows such as My Name's McGooley, What's Yours? and The Mavis Bramston Show. She attended Abbotsleigh School for Girls on the Upper North Shore of Sydney. She attained her Masters of Arts in English Literature at the University of Sydney in 1973. Rowe's first job was assistant editor at Paul Hamlyn publishing. She later worked at Angus and Robertson Publishers, where she remained for fourteen years as editor, senior editor, managing director, deputy publisher and finally publisher. During this time she began writing children's books under the pseudonym Emily Rodda (her grandmother's name). Her first book, Something Special, was published in 1984 and won the Australian Children's Book Council Book of the Year for Younger Readers Award. She went on to win that award a record six times. From 1984 to 1992, Rowe continued her career in publishing, then as editor of the Australian Women's Weekly while writing novels in her 'spare time'. In 1994 Rowe became a full-time writer. She now divides her working day between consultancies for book publishers and her own writing. She lives in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales with her husband Bob Ryan and her four children. She enjoys reading murder mystery novels, which have inspired her to add mysterious plots and hidden clues to her works.