Andy Griffiths

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Andy Griffiths was born in Melbourne, and is a popular Australian children's book author and comedy writer. Perhaps his most well-known books, the 'Just!' series, was made into an animated TV series called, 'What's with Andy?'. Before becoming a full-time author, Andy was a vocalist with '80s alternative rock bands such as, Gothic Farmyard and Skippy the Butcher. Andy is passionate about inspiring a love of books and reading in his young readers, and this passion drives his work as an ambassador with The Indigenous Literacy Foundation, an initiative of the Australian Publishing Industry, to provide books and literacy resources to remote Indigenous communities around Australia.

Author's Comment: I've always loved writing ever since I was old enough to hold a pen. I was constantly filling up exercise books with stories, jokes, cartoons, newspaper clippings, ticket stubs, bubblegum cards...anything that came my way. I wrote funny stories to entertain my friends at school. These eventually turned into funny song lyrics which is how I ended up being in bands. It was all really good writing practice!

When I eventually became an English teacher I met a lot of students who thought books were boring and I started writing little stories to make them laugh and appreciate that reading can be a lot of fun. I started making photocopied collections of my stories and selling them at shops and markets around Melbourne. At the same time I was sending these self-published books to publishers. I received many rejections over a number of years but I kept trying, studying and practising and eventually someone said yes!

Nationality: Australian