Bio

Phil Cummings is an award winning author of over a hundred books for children (from picture books to novels) in a career that began in 1989.

His work has been published in Australia, New Zealand, U.S, Japan, China, South Korea, Canada, U.K. and throughout Europe.

He was a teacher for  twenty two years but now writes full time. He has been a Premier’s Reading Challenge Ambassador in South Australia since its inception in 2004.

Phil has had a number of CBCA Notable Books.  Phil’s book ‘Boy’ Illustrated by Shane Devries and published by Scholastic Press was the Winner of the Children’s Peace Literature Award 2017 and shortlisted for WAYBRA – Western Australian children’s choice awards – February 2018. Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards – Notable Book 2018 and was shortlisted for Book of the Year in the Early Childhood category. BOY was also named as an outstanding book for children with disabilities by the International Board of Books for Young people in Switzerland.

‘Feathers’ Illustrated by Phil Lesnie and Published by Scholastic Press, was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and was also named a Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book in 2018.

In 2008 Phil’s novel Danny Allen was here, a book based on Phil’s childhood memories of growing up in a small country town, was shortlisted for the prestigious Children’s Literature Awards at the Adelaide Festival of Arts. In 2012 The SA Primary Schools Festival of Music commissioned John Schumann of Redgum fame, to write a suite of songs based on Danny Allen was here. This saw 300 primary school choirs perform in over twenty concerts at the Adelaide Festival Theatre and regional theatres.

Phil’s bestselling book ANZAC Biscuits was published by Scholastic in March 2013 and was shortlisted for the Western Australian Young Book Readers Awards and has been named a Notable Book by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. The book was also chosen by the SA Festival of Music to be the basis for a new commissioned work to commemorate the Gallipoli centenary in 2015.

Phil’s books ANZAC Biscuits, Boom Bah! and Night Watch were presented to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as a gift to their son Prince George to commemorate their visit to Australia in 2014.

Bridie’s Boots, illustrated by award winning illustrator Sara Acton, was released in September 2014 and was named a Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book. It was also shortlisted for the 2015 Speech Pathology Children’s Book Awards.

Phil’s book, Ride, Ricardo, Ride! illustrated by Shane Devries was published to critical acclaim by Omnibus Scholastic in March 2015. It was shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year in 2016 and was named an Honour Book at the awards ceremony in Sydney in August 2016.

Newspaper Hats Illustrated by Owen Swan and published by Scholastic was released in July 2015 and has been published in the U.S. and Japan. The book also won the French Chronos Literature Prize for Alzheimer’s Literature.

In recent times Phil has also co-written two musicals for children that are available online for schools to perform. Both musicals, created with Glyn Lehmann, renowned songwriter, composer and arranger, are a complete package, containing backing tracks, music sheets, scripts , ideas for classroom teachers, everything that schools need to perform the work in their own chosen environment. The first musical is entitled Arlie Abbstock and the Incredible Cape, and is available from: http://www.songlibrary.net for schools to produce and perform as part of their Performing Arts program. The second musical, One Drop of Rain, is set in a harsh rural landscape and covers themes of drought, family, resilience, the importance of creative play and a child’s imagination. The musicals are available online through the song library www.songlibrary.net.

A Book Will Take You There is a song Phil and Glyn wrote for schools to use in Book Week and is also available on the song library. http://www.songlibrary.net

Phil has a number of new works in production.