Jackie French named Senior Australian of the Year

A passion for telling stories and tireless advocacy for children with learning difficulties has made Jackie French the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year.

“A book can change the world,” she said. “Every book a child reads creates new neurons in that child’s brain,” she told the crowd as she received her award.

“If you want intelligent children give them a book. If you want more intelligent children give them more books.”

Jackie has published 140 books, for both adults and children, in 32 languages and received more than 60 literary prizes for children’s classics like Diary of a Wombat.

The award follows a year of travelling for Jackie, after being named Australia’s Children’s Laureate for 2014.

Click here to go to Jackie French’s author page

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About the Contributor

Andrew Cattanach

Andrew Cattanach is a regular contributor to The Booktopia Blog. He has been shortlisted for The Age Short Story Prize and was named a finalist for the 2015 Young Bookseller of the Year Award. He enjoys reading, writing and sleeping, though finds it difficult to do them all at once.

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