Official Bio for Press

France Dot is the author and illustrator of the Marlie Starr and Tommy Bell Investigate series. She also writes and illustrates short stories for younger children.

She distinctly remembers feeling very grown up at the age of ten, but many adults have forgotten and don’t always give children the credit they deserve. This is proven regularly when grandparents realize they are being used as the (willing?) minions of their grandchildren!

She attended schools in three countries, moved house over twenty times, lived on a beach in North Queensland (it was the seventies!), and now lives in Melbourne surrounded by her wonderful family – including lots of very smart grandchildren!

France Dot aims to write engaging, humorous, inclusive stories for children of all ages.

Many of the books available for middle grade readers are in the magical/fantasy genre, whereas her Marlie and Tommy series is about real children having real adventures.

She feels very strongly about equality and inclusivity and would love to see our world getting better at this. By weaving inclusive themes naturally into her stories, she hopes she can help her readers come to see differences as normal.