Ursula Dubosarsky is widely regarded as one of the most talented and original writers in Australia today. She is the author of many outstanding books, both for young adults and for children, and has won numerous awards for excellence. Abyssinia was winner of the 2004 South Australian Festival Award for Literature and was also shortlisted for NSW Premier's Literary Awards and the Queensland Premier's Literary Award. In 2006 Theodora's Gift won both the NSW and Victorian Premier's Awards. Ursula has a PhD in English literature from Macquarie University and lives in Sydney with her family. Her recent collaboration at Penguin with Tohby Riddle for The Word Spy and Return of the Word Spy, both of which also won major national awards, is already proving how prescient an author she is, with the current emphasis swinging back to teaching the basics of grammar in primary school.