Meet the author

Matt Shanks.

Writer & illustrator · Australia

An Australian author-illustrator working in gentle, painterly watercolour, whose books, like the meditative When the Mountain Wakes, pair quiet emotion with a deep love of the natural world.

Matt Shanks is an Australian author-illustrator of more than twenty picture books, working primarily in watercolour to make books with heart, humour and a strong feeling for the natural world. Based in Melbourne, he both writes and illustrates his own titles, including When the Mountain Wakes (2026), a hushed, cinematic parable about rewilding and the healing power of nature, and has collaborated with well-known Australian writers such as Jackie French, Peter Helliar and Jimmy Barnes. His work has twice been named a Notable by the Children's Book Council of Australia for Picture Book of the Year, and he is a two-time May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust fellow. Shanks's gentle, painterly, quietly moving books suit young children and the adults reading alongside them.