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A. J. Betts A. J. Betts i(A117032 works by) (a.k.a. Amanda Betts)
Born: Established: 1975 Bundaberg, Bundaberg area, Maryborough - Rockhampton area, Queensland, ;
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

A. J. Betts is an Australian young adult author. Originally from Queensland, A.J. Betts relocated to Perth in 2004, and in 2019 is based near Fremantle.

In addition to being a writer, Betts is an English teacher of school aged children confined to cancer wards in hospitals. This experience influenced her award-winning novel Zac and Mia, which has been adapted for television in the United States.

Betts book Hive has also been shortlisted for multiple awards including the Inkys, ABIA, and the Queensland Literary Awards.

Betts completed her a PhD on 'wonder' in life and fiction from Edith Cowan University in 2019, and in 2018, won the Western Australian Premier's Fellowship. 

Exhibitions

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon One Song Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2023 26506979 2023 single work novel young adult

'Aspiring singer-songwriter Eva has one last chance to enter Triple J Unearthed High and break into the music industry.

'But after three failed attempts, she needs some help.

'Cue the band: perfectionist Eva, charismatic Cooper, easy-going Ant and moody Ruby. Plus fly-on-the-wall Mim, who's filming them for her school Media project.

'Five people who have nothing in common but music. One emotionally and creatively charged weekend.

'Can they record the most important song of their lives?' (Publication summary)

2024 CBCA Book of the Year Awards Notable Book Older Readers
y separately published work icon Rogue Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2019 16432095 2019 single work novel young adult

'There was no going back; there was no choice, anymore. I'd chosen out and this was it: hot-cold, dry-wet, bright-dark and lonely.

'Hayley has gone rogue.

'She's left everything she's ever known - her friends, her bees, her whole world - all because her curiosity was too big to fit within the walls of the underwater home she was forced to flee.

'But what is this new world she's come to? Has Hayley finally found where she can belong?

'Or will she have to keep running?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2020 shortlisted APA Book Design Awards Best Designed Children's and Young Adult Series for 'Hive' and 'Rogue'. Designed by Astred Hicks, Design Cherry.
y separately published work icon Hive Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2018 13724645 2018 single work novel young adult

'All I can tell you is what I remember, in the words that I have.

Hayley tends to her bees and follows the rules in the only world she has ever known.

Until she witnesses the impossible: a drip from the ceiling.

A drip? It doesn't make sense.

Yet she hears it, catches it. Tastes it.

Curiosity is a hook.

What starts as a drip leads to a lie, a death, a boy, a beast, and too many awful questions.' (Source: Publisher's blurb)

2021 shortlisted West Australian Young Readers' Book Award Older Readers
2019 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Australian Book of the Year for Older Children
2019 shortlisted Inky Awards Gold Inky
2019 CBCA Book of the Year Awards Notable Book Older Readers
2019 shortlisted Indie Awards Young Adult
Last amended 6 Sep 2019 08:09:07
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