Booked Out

📣 New speaker 📣
Pip Harry is the bestselling author of acclaimed middle grade, young adult and picture books including CBCA award-winning The Little Wave and August & Jones. She writes about kindness, friendship and courage and shares her passion for storytelling at festivals and schools around Australia.
Pip is available now for bookings at schools and libraries across NSW! 📚

📣 New speaker 📣

Dr Niraj (Nij) Lal () is an author, ANU Visiting Fellow and host of the ’s kids' podcast Imagine This. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a PhD in physics as a Gates Scholar in 2012, has appeared on Play School and Catalyst and his awards include the 2021 Celestino Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science and the 2022 Royal Societies of Australia and New Zealand Piasecki Prize for Outstanding Writing on Social Change. He speaks on the environment and how to make the online world safer for kids.

Nij is available now for bookings at schools and libraries across Victoria! 📚

The Sydney Writers Festival program is live now and it's chock full of incredible Booked Out speakers! If you want to see these authors and illustrators speak before you commit to bringing them to your school or library, now is your chance to see them live in action.
To bring the festival magic to your school, library, or organisation, get in touch to lock in your next booking.

We're thrilled to be bringing outgoing Children's Laureate Sally Rippin and illustrator Aki Fukuoka to Melbourne and Sydney for their upcoming Billie B Brown Graphic Novel Tour. Get in touch via our website to book your spot.

Harmony Week is coming up soon! Between 16​ and 22 March, we celebrate the diversity of experiences, cultures, and beliefs shared by people across Australia. Harmony Week aims to bring people together from all backgrounds and work towards more inclusivity and building respect between people to ensure everyone feels that they belong.
We hope you take the time throughout Harmony Week (and the rest of the year!) to read books that reflect broad experiences, including cultures outside your own. We represent a huge number of illustrators and writers who create books that highlight and explore their cultures. Whether you're looking to broaden your reading or just looking for your next great read, we recommend them all!

Looking for some great new books to dive into? Here's a selection of books coming out this month, all written or illustrated by our speakers! With such a high calibre of work hitting shelves, we're sure you'll find something you or a young reader in your life will in enjoy.
And if you love these books and want to hear the author or illustrator speaker at your school or library, get in touch!

A huge congratulations to Zeno Sworder for winning the Children's Literature category of the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards last night. His book, Once I Was a Giant, is absolutely gorgeous and we're thrilled for it to be recognised in this way. A few of the Booked Out team were in attendance, and it was wonderful to see Zeno accept the award in a room full of such talented writers and dedicated readers.
Congrats Zeno!

We are excited to be working with to provide bookselling services to schools and libraries who book speakers through Booked Out Speakers Agency.
This will make it easier for schools to stock up on books and ensure students can receive books from our speakers on the day of their event.

In 1996, our director Lauris was introduced to this funny young teacher who had some ideas for books. At the time, Booked Out had about a dozen speakers to its name and decided to take a chance on this writer called Andy. Although we haven't worked directly with Andy for several years, Lauris credits his rise and ours to their collaboration, bringing joy and laughs to all the schools Andy visited.
Congratulations to Andy Griffiths on being named the 2026–2027 Australian Children's Laureate!
(Here he is with the inimitable Felice Arena from their joint touring adventures.)