Narelle Oliver
# Narelle Oliver

Narelle Oliver (1960 - 2016) was an Australian artist, print maker and award-winning children's author-illustrator.

## Early life

Narelle Oliver was born on 25 February 1960 and grew up in Toowoomba in south east Queensland.

## Career

Oliver majored in design and printmaking while studying for a Bachelor of Education degree. She began her career teaching at the Queensland School for the Deaf.

Oliver was an educator and a committed environmentalist. As an illustrator, Oliver combined linocut, watercolour, pastels, collage and digitally-enhanced photographs in her work. She used many environmental themes drawing on the flora and fauna of Australia.

Oliver's first book, Leaf Tail, was published in 1989.

## Works

* Oliver, Narelle (1989), Leaf Tail, McCulloch Publishing, ISBN 978-0-949646-97-2
* — (1991), High above the sea, Jam Roll Press, ISBN 978-1-875491-04-9
* — (1993), The best beak in Boonaroo Bay, Lothian, ISBN 978-0-85091-671-3
* — (1995), The hunt, Lothian Books, ISBN 978-5-86793-139-1
* — (1996), The Well, Lothian Books, ISBN 0-85091-735-2
* — (1999), Sand swimmers : the secret life of Australia's dead heart, Lothian, ISBN 978-0-85091-768-0
* — (2001), Baby bilby, where do you sleep?, Lothian, ISBN 978-0-7344-0285-1
* — (2003), The very blue thingamajig, Norwood, S. Aust. An Omnibus Book from Scholastic Australia, ISBN 978-1-86291-527-5
* — (2006), Home, Scholastic Australia, ISBN 978-1-86291-668-5
* — (2009), Fox and fine feathers, Omnibus Books, ISBN 978-1-86291-806-1
* — (2013), Don't let a spoonbill in the kitchen!, Parkside, SA Omnibus Books, ISBN 978-1-86291-960-0

## Honours and awards

* 1996 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award Winner for The Hunt
* 1999 Royal Zoological Society of NSW Whitley Award - Best Book for Older Readers for Sand Swimmers: The Secret Life of Australia's Dead Heart
* 2000 joint winner The Wilderness Society Environment Award for Children's Literature — Picture Book for Sand Swimmers: The Secret Life of Australia's Dead Heart
* 2007 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Books for Home
* 2013 Queensland Literary Awards — Children's Book Award for Don't let a spoonbill in the kitchen

## Personal life

Oliver lived in Brisbane with her husband Greg and their children Jessie and Liam. She died on 5 October 2016.

