Bren MacDibble was raised on farms all over New Zealand before travelling the world and finally settling in Melbourne. After 20 years in Melbourne, Bren recently sold everything, and now lives and works in a bus travelling around Australia.

Bren's first novel was young adult science fiction novel, In the Dark Spaces, which she published under the pen name Cally Black. In the Dark Spaces won the Ampersand Prize for an unpublished manuscript, and, once published, went on to win the New Zealand Book Award for Young Adult Fiction, an Aurealis Award and the Queensland Literary Award Griffiths University Young Adult Book Award. 

In 2018, How to Bee - Bren's first novel for younger readers - won the Children's Book Council Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers, the New South Wales Premier's Literary Award Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature, and the New Zealand Book Awards Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction.

Bren's most recent novel is The Dog Runner.

Find out more about Bren at:

Website: macdibble.com 

Twitter: twitter.com/MacDibble

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/macdibble

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cally_black

After completing a teaching degree, Deb went to Africa where she was caught in a desert sandstorm, harassed by monkeys and thrown in jail … twice! She produced and wrote a national kids’ TV show before leaving to write twenty-six books including the Max Remy Superspy and Jasper Zammit (Soccer Legend) series and Grimsdon, New City and Final Storm, about kids living in a climate-changed world. Teresa A New Australian was inspired by her dad who was born in a cave during one of the heaviest bombing raids of World War II. The Stupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee and its sequel, The Most Marvelous International Bee, were inspired by her grade four teacher, Miss Gray. Her first picture book is Wolfie, An Unlikely Hero. She is a proud ambassador for the Premier’s Reading Challenge, Room to Read and Books in Homes. Deb’s won awards for her books but mostly hopes to be as brave as her characters. 

Find out more about Deb at:

Website - deborahabela.com

Facebook - facebook.com/deborah.abela.9

Instagram - @deborah_abela_

Teacher's Notes for FINAL STORM: www.penguin.com.au/content/resources/TR_FinalStorm.pdf

Today, on our very last day on this Earth, we are hereby giving away signed copies of The Quest Diaries of Max Crack by Jules Faber and The Final Storm by Deborah Abela.

And as if that’s not enough, we also have an original Jules Faber cartoon (see below!) based on the actual events of this apocalypse! May they live on long after we are gone. 

Head to our WIN page and simply tell us what book you’d read on your last day on Earth. Enter your answer (or ask a parent to) by 5pm Tuesday 24th September to be in the running.