Dianne Bates was born and brought up in Sydney and Appin, New South Wales. Initially a teacher, Di began writing books for children, beginning with Terri , published by Penguin in 1981. Since then Dianne has had over 100 books published, seeing several of them win state and national awards, and she herself has been awarded the Lady Cutler prize for services to children's literature. She has also worked on the editorial teams of a number of child literature-related and educational journals.
