Matt Ottley is an award winning multi-modal artist, working equally across the fields of literature, visual arts and music. Matt has had 35 picture books published and his work also appears in more than thirty nonfiction books. His awards include the CBCA Picture Book of the Year and both the Queensland & NSW Premiers Awards for literature. His international awards include Ibby Honour Book for Australia and a White Ravens listing, Bologna. He is also an Endorsed Yamaha Musician and currently works as a composer with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. ‘For me the ancient art of book illustration is ironically not about the words in the story. As a story unfolds, the paintings connect the author’s words with the reader’s own lived experience.’