Ursula Dubosarsky


Ursula Dubosarsky is an Australian writer of fiction and non-fiction for children and young adults, whose work is characterised by a child's vision and comic voice of both clarity and ambiguity.
She is the third child of Peter Coleman and Verna Susannah Coleman. She was named after the character of Ursula Brangwen in the 1915 novel The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence. She attended Lindfield, Hunter's Hill and Chatswood Primary Schools, SCEGGS Darlinghurst, then studied at Sydney University and later Macquarie University. She is an Honorary Associate of the Department of English at Macquarie University and has taught courses in children's literature at the University of Sydney and the University of Technology, Sydney. From 2016-2024 she was a member of the Library Council of New South Wales.
WWW ursuladubosarsky.squaresp...

Writing career

Ursula
is the author of over 60 illustrated books and novels, which have been translated into 17 languages.
She has also written three non-fiction "Word Spy" books for children, illustrated by Tohby Riddle, about language, grammar and etymology. These books have won the New South Wales Premier's Literary Award, the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award and the Junior Judges' Award. In the United States and Canada The Word Spy is published under the title The Word Snoop.
Her novel The Red Shoe is included in 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up and is one of 200 significant works of Australian literature in the Copyright Agency's Reading Australia program.
In 2014, the annual Christmas Windows of the department store David Jones were based on her story Reindeer's Christmas Surprise, illustrated by Sue deGennaro and her book Too Many Elephants In this House, illustrated by Andrew Joyner, was chosen for the National Simultaneous Storytime. In 2018 the National Library of Australia published Midnight at the Library, illustrated by Ron Brooks, to celebrate the Library's 50-year anniversary. In 2019 a study room at Marrickville Library was named in honour of her novel The Blue Cat.
Three of her books have been adapted for theatre: The Red Shoe, The Terrible Plop and Too Many Elephants in This House. A theatrical work, "The Giant's Garden", based on a story by Ursula will be performed at the 2026 Adelaide Festival.

Awards and honors

She has won nine national literary prizes, including five New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, more than any other writer in the Awards' 30-year history. She was appointed the Australian Children's Laureate for 2020–2021.

International

Australian

Theatrical productions

Too Many Elephants in This House at NIDA, the National Institute of Dramatic Art.The Red Shoe at the Jigsaw Theatre.

Critical studies, reference books

The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature edited by Daniel Hahn1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up edited by Julia Eccleshore Cassell IllustratedThe Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature edited by Jack ZipesThe Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English edited by Victor WatsonThe Oxford Companion to Australian Children's Literature edited by Stella Lees and Pam MacintyreThe Golden Day
  • Bradford, Clare "The Red Shoe" Copyright Agency Reading Australia https://readingaustralia.com.au/essays/the-red-shoe/
  • Hale, Elizabeth "Mystery, Childhood, and Meaning in Ursula Dubosarsky's The Golden Day" in Our Mythical Hope: The Ancient Myths as Medicine for the Hardships of Life in Children's and Young Adults' Culture University of Warsaw Press pp. 451–469 https://rune.une.edu.au/web/handle/1959.11/54660
  • Hateley, Erica "Puck vs. Hermia: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Gender, and Sexuality," in Shakespeare in Children's Literature: Gender and Cultural Capital New York: Routledge Chapter 4
  • Holden, Kate "Ursula Dubosarsky" The Saturday Paper March 13–19 https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/culture/books/2021/03/13/ursula-dubosarsky/161555400011259#hrd
  • Lavi, Tali "Know the Author: Ursula Dubosarsky" Magpies vol 33 pp 4–6
  • Pennell, Beverley "Leaving the Men to Drown?" in Fin de Siecle: Reconfigurations of Masculinity in Children's Fiction Roderick McGillis Praeger International Research Society for Children's Literature Chapter 19
  • Stephens, John "Always Facing the Issues--Preoccupations in Australian Children's Literature" The Lion and the Unicorn 27 Johns Hopkins University Press