Australian author DIANNE (DI) BATES has published 120+ books for the education and trade markets. Some of Di's books have won national and state literary awards; others have sold overseas. Di has received Grants and Fellowships from the Literature Board of the Australia Council and has toured for the National Book Council.Di has undertaken commissioned writing for a large number of organisations and has worked on the editorial team of the NSW Department of Education School Magazine. She was co-editor of a national children's magazine, Puffinalia (Penguin Books) and editor of another national magazine, Little Ears.In 2008, Di was awarded The Lady Cutler Prize for distinguished services to children's Literature. Her latest books are 11 titles in the fictional Bushranger series (Desert Dan the Dunnyman won the KOALA children's choice book award) and Crossing the Line, short-listed for the NSW Premier's Awards and sold into Germany. More recently she has published a junior verse novel, Nobody's Boy (Celapene Press) and A Game of Keeps (Celapene Press).