The Margaret Hamilton Creators’ Residency is a new initiative from the NSW branch of The Children’s Book Council of Australia [CBCA] and provides a week of focused time and space for children’s and young adult authors and illustrators to work on their craft. The residency takes place in the CBCA office at Writing NSW Rozelle, amongst the library of previous Children’s Book of the Year winners. It also includes visits from relevant industry mentors. Margaret Hamilton AM was a librarian, children’s book publisher, author, advocate and CBCA member for over 50 years. 

I was elated to be one of two creators chosen for the inaugural residencies in late 2025.  My creative project for the week was to focus on a third draft of my middle-grade novel, The Library of Serendipity. The novel is essentially a love letter to public libraries and the staff and patrons who belong to them. It is also the story of what a community will do to save their library from being demolished. There are elements of bibliotherapy, cartography, mystery, and even some Dewey references. 

Over the week I was mentored by award winning children’s authors Pip Harry and Maryam Masters, along with a representative from Hachette Publishing, Kate Flood.  The mentors were enormously generous with their time and expertise, and each visit gave me different perspectives and insights about the industry. We also had great conversation about the role libraries play in the lives of creators, being a valuable source of income via the Australian Lending Right Schemes (ELR/PLR), talks, workshops, and of course book and eBook sales into the collection.

There are many, many children’s and young adult authors who have worked as librarians or in libraries, including Beverly Cleary, Madeleine L'Engle, Jenny Han and The Brothers Grimm. I am yet to decide whether being a librarian is the best or worst job for an aspiring author. It may be the best, because you are working in an industry that champions and supports creators and you are surrounded by books all day. Or the worst, because you see the new books arriving every week and none of them have your name on the cover.

Further information about the Margaret Hamilton Creators’ Residency can be found at https://www.cbcansw.org.au/