Bill Condon was born in 1949 and lives with his wife Dianne (Di) Bates, also a children's author, in the seaside town of Woonona, on the south coast of New South Wales. He left school at the first chance he got and worked in an assortment of jobs before a chance meeting with Larry Rivera, the editor of a local weekly newspaper, led Bill into a career as a journalist. He left journalism to devote himself full-time to writing for children, and in 2010 Bill was the winner of the inaugural Prime Minister's Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction for his book Confessions of a Liar, Thief and Failed Sex God. When not writing, Bill plays tennis, snooker, and Scrabble, but hardly ever at the same time. His dream is to receive a wildcard invitation to play tennis at Wimbledon - if nothing else, his knees would provide great comic relief for the spectators.