About

Jess grew up in regional Victoria where he spent lots of time in the local library pouring over well-loved DK eyewitness books.  

He has fond memories of visiting the old Melbourne Museum where his mum worked as a scientific illustrator, meticulously drawing strange sea-creatures in glass jars.

Jess studied Communication Design at RMIT and worked as a graphic designer before turning his hand to writing and illustrating picture books.

He loves telling stories about hidden places, like the underground world beneath your feet or a secret library waiting to be found.

 

Selected Bibliography

2024 South with the Seabirds - Allen and Unwin
2024 The Space Between - Puffin (Aus/NZ)
2024 Lost - Welbeck / Hachette
2023 Business Chickens - Puffin (Aus/NZ)
2023 High - Welbeck / Hachette
2022 The Tree at Number 43 - Puffin (Aus/NZ)
2022 Kind - Allen and Unwin (Aus/NZ/U.K)
2022 Deep - Welbeck / Hachette
2021 Frankie and the Fossil - Puffin (Aus/NZ)
2020 The Lost Library - Puffin (Aus/NZ) Viking (North America)
2020 Colin Collects Colors - Little Bee Books (North America)
2019 Fly - Puffin (Aus/NZ) Philomel (North America) Bilgi Yayınevi (Turkey)

Fancy-pants awards

2024 World Illustration awards for The Space Between (Longlisted)
2024 Panda Book Awards for Kind (Shortlisted) 
2024 CBCA Awards for High (Notable) 
2023 CBCA Eve Pownall Award for Deep (Winner) 
2023 Environment Awards for Children's Literature for The Tree at Number 43 (Winner) 
2023 Environment Awards for Children's Literature for Kind (Winner)
2023 Awarded an Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship 
2023 School Library Association’s Information Book Award for Deep (Longlisted)
2023 CBCA Awards for Kind (Notable) 
2023 2023 Australian Book Designers Association Awards for Kind (Longlisted)
2022 World Illustration Awards for The Tree at Number 43 (Longlisted)
2022 CBCA Awards for Frankie and the Fossil (Notable)
2020 World Illustration awards for Colin Collects Colors (Longlisted)
2020 CBCA (Children’s Book Council of Australia) awards for Fly (Shortlisted)
2020 Queensland Literary Awards for Fly (Shortlisted)
2019 World Illustration awards for Fly (Shortlisted)

School visits and speaking events

Jess is available for school visits through the wonderful Booked Out.

For all other speaking enquires or questions please get in touch using the contact form or drop a line to jess@jessmcgeachin.com