This month, it is my pleasure to introduce you to award-winning Australian author Aleesah Darlison. Aleesah writes picture books, chapter books and novels. Her much-loved stories promote courage, understanding, anti-bullying, self-belief, teamwork and environmental themes. In 2015, she won the Environment Award for Children’s Literature (Non-Fiction) for her picture book, Our Class Tiger. She has won numerous other awards for her writing.
Aleesah has written over thirty-five books for children and in 2016, she set up Greenleaf Press, a business designed to provide critical support services to authors and illustrators. The company also acts as a booking agency for school and preschool visits.
Today, Aleesah and I are talking about her picture book Stripes in the Forest. With National Threatened Species Day just a couple of weeks away on 7 September, it is a timely interview. Stripes in the Forest is the story of an iconic species lost.
Told from the perspective of the last wild female thylacine, it provides readers with an insight into the rare beauty and uniqueness of these amazing animals, explains their fight for survival and provides important lessons for future generations.
An emotive and moving story, children will connect with the solitary, stoic and courageous female thylacine who does all she can to protect her young – just as a human mother would do. The story takes readers to a place in the past, but also offers a twist that projects them
Continue reading: Meet Australian picture book author Aleesah Darlison – Readilearn
Norah Colvin 
I never heard of a thylacine. Sounds like an amazing book. What a great idea to set up a business designed to provide critical support services to authors and illustrators. Is it a publishing company too? So many authors are lost when it comes to promoting themselves. This would be very helpful. Love that she helps set up school and author visits, which would really be a boost for authors.
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Hi Patricia, I’m pleased I helped you discover something new, especially as exciting as the thylacine. Aleesah does a lot to promote children’s books and authors. It was a great opportunity to be able to interview her and spread her wonderful messages.
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Thanks for reading the article, Patricia. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thylacines are one of my all time favourite animals. Greenleaf doesn’t do publishing yet. We have our hands full with all the other things we’re doing at the moment. But maybe… soon! We’re doing a lot of new and different things with school and preschool visits, providing services to authors, running events like our Sunshine Writers Retreat and we’ve even set up a picture book competition. There’s a lot to do but we’ll get there.
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