DIANNE BATES – Founder of Australian Children’s Poetry 2014

Dianne saw a need for Australian poets writing for children. To fill that need, she created the website AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN’S POETRY back in 2014. As an author for young readers Dianne doesn’t really consider herself to be a children’s poet. But having a husband (Bill Condon) who was, gave her added insight.

Dianne made this project happen even though a promising arts funding application fell through. Once the website (designed and constructed by Helen Ross) was up-and-running, she emailed all the Australian children’s poets she knew, inviting them to submit their creations to feature as POEM OF THE DAY.

I can imagine that early band of poets being generous with their time and talents, busily generating blog posts, news articles and resource materials to engage an ever-wider community. The fact that ACP is still well appreciated is testament to Di’s thoughtful wisdom and generosity.

By the end of 2015, Dianne handed over the running ACP to its first Administrator, Teena Raffa-Mulligan.  Australian Children’s Poetry continues to empower its poets (both young and old), while inspiring and delighting readers with its variety and literacy value.

by Celia Berrell

About Dianne Bates

Dianne Bates (Di) has written many poems for both children and adults but is best known as the author of 150 books, mostly for young readers including Our Home is Dirt by Sea (Walker Books), an anthology of Australian children’s poems which she compiled. She has published a collection of poems for adults, A Fine Line (Cyberwit). Di is married to children’s author, Bill Condon, who also writes poetry. Both get poems published from time to time in the NSW School Magazine. They live near Wollongong, Australia.

Di is also the founder of Buzz Words, a twice-monthly online magazine for those in the Australian children’s book industry.