Paul Jennings (Australian author)
Paul Jennings AM is an English-born Australian children's book writer. His books mainly feature short stories that lead the reader through an unusual series of events that end with a twist. Many of his stories were adapted for the cult classic children's television series "Round the Twist". Early life and education. Paul Jennings was born on 30 April 1943 in Heston, Middlesex (now part of Hounslow in London). In 1949 his family emigrated to Australia. He first attended Bentleigh West Primary School in Bentleigh, a suburb of Melbourne, and then Caulfield Grammar School . He graduated with a Bachelor of Education Studies from Frankston Teachers College at Monash University in 1978 and taught at Frankston State School, Kangaroo Flat State School, the Turana Youth Training Centre and the Royal Children's Hospital State School in Mount Eliza. He then went to the Lincoln Institute of Health Sciences (now part of Monash). Career. After graduating, he became a speech pathologist that he became a lecturer in special education at the Burwood State College and then, in 1979, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literature at Warrnambool Institute of Advanced Education (both now part of Deakin University ). In 1985, Jennings' first book of short stories, "Unreal!", was published, during which he worked as a teacher, lecturer and speech therapist. In 1989, he made the decision to devote himself full-time to writing. He began writing for children when his son, aged 11, was having trouble reading. Jennings' short stories were adapted for the first two seasons of children's television series "Round the Twist" in 1989 and 1992, and then later in 1998 for the only season of series "Driven Crazy". In 2020 Jennings' memoir, "Untwisted: The Story of My Life", was published by Allen & Unwin. Jennings  started writing it ten years earlier, and is his longest piece of writing. In it, he examines many aspects of his life, including harbouring feelings of guilt about not liking his cold and emotionally abusive father, and having thoughts of attacking him with a hammer. Personal life. Jennings first married aged 22. He has six children, and is a great-grandfather. His third wife is comedian Mary-Anne Fahey. Awards and honours. Awards for titles. Young Australians' Best Book Award (YABBA): Canberra's Own Outstanding List (COOL Award): West Australian Young Readers' Book Award (WAYRBA): Kids Own Australian Literature Award  (KOALA): Kids Reading Oz Choice Award (KROC): Books I Love Best Yearly (BILBY Award): Australian Writers' Guild: ABPA Joyce Nicholson Award: Wilderness Society Environment Award for Children's Literature: Prix Jeunesse Award: Australian Publishers Association — Book Industry Awards: Christian Schools' Book Award: Dymocks Children's Choice Awards: Queensland Premiers Literary Award: Selected works. Novels. "Deadly" series (co-written with Morris Gleitzman) "Wicked" series (co-written with Morris Gleitzman)