AustLit

'Tessa Bickford was born in Queensland and grew up by the Great Barrier Reef. After completing an arts degree, she spent several years working on boats on the reef in Far North Queensland and Indonesia. Her passion for marine life and the natural world took her to Macquarie Island, in the Sub Antarctic, where she worked as a fur seal researcher. Over two summer periods, she monitored the breeding and population growth of three species of seals. In the summer months, penguins, seals and sea birds come in great numbers to breed on Macquarie Island, and Tessa found herself working on one of the island's busiest beaches! Being so close to the birds and animals each day, and getting to know their amusing habits, inspired her to create stories for children' (Allen and Unwin website sighted 14/08/2012).