Q&A with Sally Rippin
The School Magazine was lucky enough to speak with Sally Rippin, Australian Children's Laureate for 2024 and 2025.
Sally has written over 100 books for children and young adults that are beloved across the globe, and her mission as Laureate is to ensure that all children can be supported to access reading in the way that suits them most.
Hi Sally! You moved to a lot of different places when you were a kid, even to different countries. Did all these new places give you ideas for your stories? Was there one place that you liked the most?
Hi! Yes, my father’s work required us to move regularly, mainly throughout South-East Asia, as well as a couple of years in England when I was very young. I think my strongest memories are when we lived in Hong Kong, mainly because they were during very formative years from ages 9-12, and at a time that I had just started to really love reading and writing. My Year Eight English teacher in my international school in Hong Kong was hugely encouraging of my writing and would sometimes read my stories out loud in class. I would often slide down into my chair with embarrassment but also be secretly thrilled that he loved my work so much. I credit him for igniting a spark that still burns hot today.
You’ve written more than 100 books, and lots of kids have them in their homes, classrooms and libraries. What’s the best part about writing books for kids?
Everything. Children are still so awe-struck by the world and full of imagination, so writing for them means that this is a state in which I often reside, which is a wonderful place to be, when the adult world can sometimes seem so bleak. I love accessing my childhood self when creating stories and knowing that my work connects with so many readers is a thrill that I will never take for granted. Plus, I am my own boss – which can be at times challenging but is mainly something I’m hugely grateful for. My time is my own.
How do you come up with so many cool things for your characters to do? Do you sit down and plan everything out or do you get ideas while you’re doing other things and quickly write them down?
I have been writing for a long time now, so I find it pretty easy to tap into my creative mind and play around with ideas. Some stories can be dictated by a character’s temperament, others by word length or vocabulary, but these parameters only help me hone my ideas as there are always infinite stores in my imagination to choose from.
When you are creating your characters, how do you make your characters real? How do you make sure your readers like your characters?
I always make sure that no matter how different my characters may appear on a page, that there is always an element of myself in them. Whether a witch or a monster, a schoolgirl or toddler, all my characters come from my experience of the world, so I guess this is what makes them authentic and relatable. I can’t guarantee my readers will like all my characters—but I hope they will always feel real.
As the Australian Children's Laureate you have a theme which is ‘All Kids Can Be Readers.’ You’ve made audiobooks and Auslan translations, and you talk about braille, storytelling and comic books to help everyone enjoy stories. How can young writers like us start making stories that everyone can read?
I think writers need to write the stories that only they can tell about the things they feel most passionately about. I am particularly keen to write stories that engage struggling readers as my youngest son is dyslexic and has ADHD, so reading has always been a struggle for him. Everything I have written over the last 10-15 years has been to connect with readers like him.
Is there anything you would like teachers to know so that they can help us learn how to do this in school?
The best lesson I learned from my son was to do less talking and more listening. Once I dropped my ideas of how I thought he should be and started listening to who he is, I learned how to better support him to be his own person in the world. I also had to learn to see his behaviour as information, rather than ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and this was really challenging, at times, and to get better at advocating for him and communicating with his teachers. I think all of this is a lot to ask of teachers, so I really do think in most cases it comes down to parents to be able to be their child’s advocate, until the child can learn to advocate for themselves.
What are some of the fun ways young writers and readers can be part of the Laureate program with you?
Each month I am involved in the addition of free resources and activities onto The Australian Children’s Laureate Foundation (ACLF) website. There are story-building activities, colouring sheets, art and craft projects, puzzles, and more, for children of all ages. They are all based on my books—School of Monsters, Billie B Brown and Hey Jack!—but some may require the help of a teacher, librarian, or parent.
There are also fun creative activities from past Laureates. You can also read along to some of my stories through the Bolinda audiobook links on the site, or learn more about stories from other authors whose work has resonated with me. There is also an extensive Auslan video library to explore, with an accompanying activity. While you’re looking around, why not check out what it means to be a ‘Laureate’ and the significance of the Magpie in our Australian Laureate logo. There is a whole gallery dedicated to Magpie drawings the ACLF has received from students over the years. We’d love to share your work too.