Gleeson, Libby

Libby Gleeson AM (born 1950) is an Australian children's author. Born in Young, New South Wales, she is one of six children, the sister of former ABC TV Washington Correspondent Michael Gleeson, and the mother of Home and Away actress Jessica Tovey and Sydney Morning Herald journalist Josephine Tovey. Her sister, Margie Gleeson, works as the head teacher of Creative and Performing Arts at Albury High School. She studied at the University of Sydney where she took history before teaching for two years in the rural town of Picton near Sydney. In the mid-1970s she lived for five years in Italy where she taught English and then London, where she began to write her first novel, Eleanor Elizabeth. Once returned from overseas she taught at the University of Sydney. In the last twenty years, she has written twenty books and taught occasional courses in creative writing. She specialises in picture books, novels for young children and also novels for slightly older readers. She's also written scripts for the ABC's Bananas in Pyjamas and Magic Mountain. She is married to scientist Euan Tovey, has three adult daughters and lives in Sydney's inner west. She is currently a Fellow on the World Research, Advisory and Education Team of MindChamps with a focus on education.