I had many different careers before I became a writer; including teaching, speech therapy and lecturing. After a few years lecturing and writing part time, I became a full-time writer in 1989. I started writing in Warrnambool but moved to Belgrave in the Dandenong Ranges in 1989. I lived there with my family for ten years, but we have recently returned to Warmambool, our home by the sea, and have bought a block of land overlooking the ocean. We hope to build a new house there. I am very excited by this move because I will able to sit in my new study watching the ocean as it foams and crashes about me. In winter I will be able to watch the whales.

My wife, Claire, and I also have a flat in Melbourne which we use when we have to work in the city.

Claire has been a primary school teacher, a librarian, a lecturer in Children's Literature and an educational consultant. She gives talks to teachers and knows a lot about kids books. She reads my stories and tells me if they are any good.

All our children are grown up now. My daughter Tracy is 33. She is a youth worker and like Linda, 31 lives in Warrnambool. Linda has three children, Anthony, Sarah and Jamie. Linda in 'Round The Twist' is named after her. Andrew is 28 and has a son also called Andrew, another son called Jermaine and a daughter called Kaylie. My daughter Sally has two boys called Kyle and Sage. Then there is Bronson - I named Bronson in 'Round The Twist' after him and got the idea for Smelly Feat from his feet after tennis. He is 22. The youngest member of our family is Gemma who is 21 and works as a beauty therapist.

I always knew deep down that what I really wanted was to be a writer - right from when I was young. When I was 16 I wrote a story and sent it to a magazine. When they rejected my story I was so upset that I didn't write again for years. I always tell people now never be hurt by being rejected. Just keep on trying and most of all don't give up. Many years later I decided to write again - the sort of stories which I thought would make reading fun for children. This time I decided not to give up and Penguin Books liked my stories and published Unreal! in 1985.

Paul Jennings latest book is Tongue-tied! published by Puffin.

Information supplied by Paul Jennings
Thanks to Lyndu
Last updated July 2002