Lian Tanner

Lian Tanner is an Australian author born in 1951 in Launceston, Tasmania. Before turning to children's fiction, she worked as a teacher in Australia and Papua New Guinea, a journalist, an editor, and a stage actor, and performed with the feminist folk band the Ovarian Sisters. She began publishing novels in 2010 with Museum of Thieves, the first of the Keepers trilogy, followed by the companion Hidden trilogy, the Rogues trilogy, and the Dragons of Hallow series, all fantasy adventures for middle-grade readers built around resourceful young protagonists confronting authoritarian institutions and hidden magic. Her books have won multiple Aurealis Awards, including for Museum of Thieves (2010), City of Lies (2011), and Spellhound (2023), as well as the Patricia Wrightson Prize and the Davitt Award.