NOPE. NOT FRECKLE.

Frenkel. With an N.

But hey, I’ll answer to Freckle. Because freckles are kind of awesome.

I live in Melbourne in a yellow house, where I write lots of different things, including stories for kids.

I love: etymology (peering inside words), entomology (peering at insects), wordplay, playgrounds, and facts that are stranger (and more beautiful) than fiction.

Other than books, you can also find my writing in some odd places, like TV ads, academic journals, magazines, and the back of cereal boxes... which is definitely my crunchiest work to date.

SOME Random questions (and even randomer answers):

Q: Do you have any pets?

A: Yes, a cat named Tonka (who may* have inspired the name for Tinka in The Truck Cat), plus some goldfish in this outdoor water feature thing we have in our garden, who keep having babies. The OG goldfish were called Butter and Goldie, but now there are too many to name so they’re all just called Fish. Tonka LOVES the Fish, but luckily he can’t quite get his paw in to reach them; something I’m sure they’re pretty relieved about.

Q: What would you be if you weren’t a writer?

A: Probably a palaeontologist or palaeo-geologist (someone who studies how the earth was eons and eons ago). I find that stuff so mind-boggling (and kind of soothing also, because it shows how today is just a tiny blip in time - a great thought to have if you’re ever having a terrible day.) 

Q: What is your secret skill?

A: I’m excellent at staring really closely at things (a skill I’ve honed after years of being extremely shortsighted, because it gives you this funky superpower of seeing things in reeeeaaaaallly fine detail close up. I think this might have been where Naturopolis came from, because I spent a lot of my childhood (and maybe some of my adulthood) with my head down, bum up, watching ants go into ants’ nests and things like that.

*OK, I literally just stole his name and changed one letter