Benji and Other Little Tails (Hardback or Cased Book)

Born and raised in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, Dianne received a high level music education at Sydney, training to become an opera singer. An early marriage to a charming but reprobate Irishman, along with attendant motherhood, put those dreams of the would-be diva on hold. As a child, singing had always accompanied her and now, in this new existence and with a high level of qualification behind her, singing continued to form the foundation of her life and soul and her lark-like voice now found its outlet in performing with smaller vocal groups, providing an additional income for the fledgeling family. In time, there came a move for the family to Queensland's Brisbane, whereupon a family inheritance provided her with the means to indulge her other passion (that of literature), with the establishment of a bookshop there, which she managed jointly with her husband, whilst continuing with further singing performance with other groups. Eventually, came a move to Queensland's Sunshine Coast mountain hinterland and the establishment of a new bookshop there, along with a new home for her family. Singing moved into committed involvements with two community choirs there, where it remains today. Over the years, the quiet moments in the solitariness of the lone bookshop owner, boredom was relieved by the composition of simple poems and the writing of short stories for children, primarily concerning animals she had known or continued to know. As a committed animal rights advocate, that love for animals emerged in the process and so the stories continued to grow, until the time seemed right to pull them together into book form. Her new partner, post-widowhood, encouraged the production and therein provided the illustrations.

Born and raised in Queensland's Brisbane, eventually graduating from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Architecture degree, an early failed marriage led in a short time to an extended period in London, as a junior architect for the Barbican Arts Centre, briefly as an aspiring actor and eventually as a fine artist printmaker. Poetry had entered his field of activities prior to and during this London sojourn and when he returned to Brisbane some years later, printmaking and poetry along with his profession as a working design architect continued to define his being. There followed a long period as a de facto Greek, rebuilding a house for a dream never to be realised, in the wake of which came his own move to Queensland's Sunshine Coast mountaintop hinterland, where he continued working as an architect, whilst continuing to compose poems, paint and draw, along with indulging a new involvement in community choral work. Eventually, the poetic circle increased to embrace a small group of fellow poets in their Pente Poets alliance and thereby, to a direct involvement in the publishing process itself; and, along the way, with a blossoming friendship with the author of this book.