Ebony McKenna

As a teenager, Ebony lived and worked in her family's restaurant, which provided much of the inspiration for the Ondine novels. Ebony waitressed, prepared food - and yep - washed dishes. So many dishes.

In the 1990s she worked as an award winning journalist on many leading Melbourne newspapers. By day she wrote other people's stories, but by night she plotted epic adventures. Now she writes novels for a living.

Ebony McKenna lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and young son.

She loves gadgets and anything futuristic. Doctor Who and The Goodies have always been TV treats. A weekly trivia night at the local pub allows her to show off her knowledge of 1980s pop music. She recently appeared on the TV quiz show Million Dollar Minute, where she was the reigning champion across 4 nights.

Coffee, chocolate and Facebook games are her worst vices. Playing with her son's toys is fun and reading to him at bedtime is a joy.

A huge influence was British humorist and author Frank Muir. For sixteen years Ebony and Frank swapped letters filled with family anecdotes and stories. They later met in 1995, dining at The Groucho Club in London. While there, one of her other literary heroes, Douglas Adams, was pitching "something rather exciting and complicated to a couple of suits at the next table."