Belinda Murrell

Belinda Murrell is an Australian children's and YA author who grew up on Sydney's North Shore in a literary family stretching back to her ancestor Charlotte Waring Atkinson, author of the first children's book published in Australia; her sister Kate Forsyth is also a novelist. After studying communication and literature at Macquarie University, Murrell worked as a journalist, travel writer, and public relations consultant before becoming a full-time author. She is best known for her Timeslip Fantasies, time-slip novels for young readers including The Locket of Dreams and The Ivory Rose, and for the Sun Sword Trilogy, alongside the younger Lulu Bell series. Her books have earned multiple CBCA Notable Book citations and shortlistings for Australian children's literary awards, and in 2023 she won the Society of Women Writers' Di Yerbury Award.