Name: Deborah Anne Abela

Date of Birth: 13 October 1966

Place of Birth: Sydney, Australia

Family: Mum and Dad, 1 sister and 2 brothers

Lives: In Sydney

Pets: In summer the enormous tree in our back yard is home to whole packs of very noisy, playful lorikeets and at night it fills with bats.

Likes: Books (I love them!!) reading, writing, music, films, bike riding, swimming in the ocean, travelling (I’ve been to Africa, America, parts of Asia, Europe and the UK) I love a good story and learning about other peoples, times and places.

Dislikes: When I hear kids don’t read, (I couldn’t imagine a childhood without books) war and silly politicians, racism, intolerance, greedy people and companies and when we don’t look after the environment.

Favourite Food: There’s so much great food I love. Cous cous (which I ate loads of in Africa), pastizzis (a speciality from Malta where my dad is from) and Vietnamese rice paper rolls. Oh and I’m a vegetarian so I love vegies!

How long I’ve known Max: She first popped into my head in 1998 and she’s been there ever since.