Here you can read about:

• The author of Swashbuckler!
• How to contact me
• Publishing enquiries
• Readers' questions and my answers
• Interviews & media

I've also got a blog - there you will find:

• My favourite swashbuckling books
• My favourite ships and boats
• Writing on all sorts of things

About Kelly Gardiner

People have asked me why I wrote books about pirates. I didn't mean to: one day I sat down and wrote the scene where Lily is given her beautiful sword, and then I couldn't stop. I learned to fence when I was 11 and have always been interested in swords, boats, ships and history. So all of those favourite things have come together in Swashbuckler!

I'm working on several new books right now - and none of them have any pirates in them.

The Swashbuckler books are my first published novels, but I've been a writer and editor for many years, mostly working on web sites, newspapers and magazines.

My poems have been published in journals including Going Down Swinging and Southerly, and some of my stories were in the NSW School Magazine, and the Random House anthology History: Hideous and Hilarious! In 2007, Random House also published my first picture book: Billabong Bill's Bushfire Christmas.

I used to work on ninemsn.com.au - a popular web site in Australia - and have worked in magazines and newspapers. I've also been a community worker, providing housing for young homeless people. Nowadays I work at the wonderful State Library of Victoria.

I have a degree in professional writing and editing, and a Master of Arts (Literature). Last year, I started a Diploma in Children's Literature at Christchurch College of Education.

I was born and grew up in Melbourne, Australia, and spent a few years in Sydney, then lived on an island in New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf. Now I'm back in Melbourne, living in the bush, on a riverbank.

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Contact me

You can ask me a question or send me feedback by going to my blog or you can email me. I'd love to hear what you think about the books and I'll try to write back, but sometimes I might be travelling and away from my computer, so don't hold your breath.
The most common questions from readers are answered here or you can post new questions on the blog.

Publishing/trade enquiries

For all publishing or rights enquiries, please contact my agent in New Zealand, Glenys Bean. You can check her website for more information.

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Sailing along the Dardanelles

(The only tapa shirt in Turkey)

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