Sarah’s surname is pronounced Ep-steen (rhymes with green).

---

SHORT BIO
Sarah Epstein is an award-winning Australian author who resides in Melbourne with her family. Her first two young adult novels, Small Spaces and Deep Water, have been translated into multiple languages, and Small Spaces has also been optioned for film. Sarah’s writing has been nominated for numerous literary awards, and she has been the recipient of the Adelaide Festival Young Adult Fiction Award, the Davitt Award for Best YA Crime Novel, and Honour Book from the Children’s Book Council of Australia. Sarah’s short fiction is featured in the Hometown Haunts anthology, and she has launched a contemporary YA series, Leftovers, and a new YA thriller, Night Lights, under her own imprint.

---

MEDIUM BIO
Sarah Epstein is a multi award-winning Australian author, illustrator, and designer who grew up in suburban Sydney and spent her childhood drawing, daydreaming, and cobbling together picture books at the kitchen table. By her teens she was also writing short stories and angsty poetry, and starting novels that never saw the light of day. After achieving a design degree at university, Sarah embarked on a career in graphic design. It was only after she’d had a baby that Sarah reconnected with her desire to write children’s books, and it took nearly five years’ worth of naptimes to complete her first manuscript. Thankfully these days she writes much faster, and when she’s not busy drafting novels you can find her designing, illustrating, crafting, and occasionally sleeping in Melbourne where she lives with her husband, two sons, and an adopted dog called Luna.

Sarah’s debut novel Small Spaces is a CBCA Honour Book, winner of the Young Adult Fiction Award in the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, winner of the Davitt Award for Best YA Crime Novel, and was shortlisted for another six awards including the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and the Australian Book Industry Awards. Small Spaces has also been optioned for film by Triptych Pictures. Sarah’s second novel, Deep Water, is a CBCA Notable Book and was shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards and the Davitt Awards. Her short story Stop Revive Survive is featured in the anthology Hometown Haunts: LoveOzYA Horror Tales, and Sarah has launched a contemporary YA series, Leftovers, and a new YA thriller, Night Lights, under her own imprint.

---

LONG BIO
Sarah Epstein is a multi award-winning Australian author, illustrator, and designer who grew up in suburban Sydney with a scorching case of middle child syndrome and an imagination that spilled out onto anything that wasn’t nailed down. She was that girl constantly scribbling and doodling, and dreaming up characters and what kind of torture she could put them through.

As a teen Sarah devoured everything from Sweet Valley High to Stephen King novels, and hid away in her bedroom for hours at a time penning her own stories. But, being the hopeless perfectionist she is, she often reread her stories a week after writing them and tore the handwritten pages to shreds because she thought they weren’t good enough. She really wishes she still had those stories to enjoy (and cringe at) today!

Sarah dearly wanted to be a writer but wasn’t interested in studying journalism (the only university writing courses offered at the time), so she followed her other passion of drawing. She achieved a design degree before embarking on a career in graphic design. It wasn’t until Sarah had her first baby that she reconnected with her desire to write children’s books, and she started by kicking around some picture book texts. But then a mysterious story began unfolding in her mind led by a teenage protagonist, and Sarah found herself curled in an armchair scribbling chapters in a notebook while her son was napping. Ever since then she’s been writing, reading, loving and recommending YA, especially #LoveOzYA.

Sarah lives not too far from the beach in Melbourne with her husband, two sons, and an adopted dog called Luna. Her debut novel Small Spaces is a CBCA Honour Book, winner of the Young Adult Fiction Award in the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, winner of the Davitt Award for Best YA Crime Novel, and was shortlisted for another six awards including the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and the Australian Book Industry Awards. Small Spaces has also been optioned for film by Triptych Pictures. Sarah’s second novel, Deep Water, is a CBCA Notable Book and was shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards and the Davitt Awards. Her short story Stop Revive Survive is featured in the anthology Hometown Haunts: LoveOzYA Horror Tales, and Sarah has launched a contemporary YA series, Leftovers, and a new YA thriller, Night Lights, under her own imprint.