Katina Nadebaum moved on from a career in corporate governance to pursue a new path that would allow her to better understand and support the neurodiversity within her own family.

In episode 27 of The KidLit Pod, host Shara Curlett welcomes Perth-based children’s author and neurodiversity advocate, Katina Nadebaum, who shares how a book-filled childhood (including Enid Blyton), handmade stories, and imaginary friends shaped her creativity.

After 25 years in corporate governance and writing, Katina now writes picture books for children — playful, heartfelt stories about big feelings, misunderstood behaviours, and the beauty of embracing exactly who you are. Katina shares how she turned to advocacy and picture books to support her family connection to ADHD, with her advocacy roles now including Director of the ADHD Foundation, member of the Neurodiversity Advisory Board for Scope Psychology, and a Role Model for Books in Homes Australia.

Katina has a focus on helping children feel understood and belong. She describes how her debut picture book, Get Lost, Zoomer! (Little Steps Publishing; illustrated by Alexandra Szmidt), was inspired by watching a squirrel in Thailand. She shares the intensive publishing process, school-visit activities, and positive early reader responses.

Katina also mentions her therapy-bred dog, Jeff, her love of psychological thrillers, as well as showing gratitude to her mentors. These include creative coach and award-winning author, Margrete Lamond, with a special mention to her new book Drawn from the Heart, which is based on her online course, Pitch-perfect Portfolio, as well as Romi Sharp, of Books On Tour PR & Marketing, as well as Just Write For Kids Australia and the annual Pitch It competition.

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LINKS:

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Get Lost, Zoomer! - Order here

Katina Nadebaum on Instagram - @katinanadebaum

Katina Nadebaum website - katinanadebaum.com

ADHD Foundation - Australia

Scope Psychology Services Australia

Books in Homes - Australia

'Drawn from the Heart' Kickstarter campaign

Books On Tour PR & Marketing website

Just Write for Kids Australia website - www.justkidslit.com

Pitch It! competition

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Follow The KidLit Pod on Instagram (@thekidlitpod)

Find out more about The KidLit Pod host, Shara Curlett, here:

Shara Curlett on Instagram (@sharacurlett)

Shara Curlett Website (www.sharacurlett.com)

Former television producer, Ian Brown, has worked with some of the most famous people in the world, including Harrison Ford, Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan, Simon Cowell, George Lucas, Gordon Ramsay, George Michael, Jamie Oliver, Jonah Lomu and several Prime Ministers and US Presidents. Now, he's fulfilling a lifelong dream of writing books.

Award-winning children's author and London-based writer, Ian, chats with host Shara Curlett about what has led to his successful series of picture books, Albert the Tortoise and his new series, Hugg 'n' Bugg, all illustrated by the talented Eoin Clarke.

Ian recounts early creative influences—constant doodling, radio comedy like The Goons, being read Paddington books, and English teachers who encouraged his writing—then traces his path from selling shoes to journalism, local and national newspapers at the tail end of Fleet Street, and a 40+ year television career including This Is Your Life, where he worked with major celebrities and shares a story how he rewrote an entire show the morning of airing, when George Michael flew in on Concorde.

Now, Ian is a full-time author. He shares the inspiration behind his award-winning picture book series, Ian's family tortoise Albert, one of which received a nomination for a Carnegie Medal. Ian visits dozens of schools, libraries, bookshops, festivals and other events each year sharing stories of his career, becoming a writer, the importance of resilience and perseverance to chase goals as well as reading his books. His books are also available as ebooks and audio books and have been translated into multiple languages. There are activity books, merch, and also an animated show in the works!

Ian shares how he does a lot of work for and supports numerous UK literacy charities, they discuss the concern for school libraries and librarians disappearing. And, to finish, Ian shares Albert’s large social media presence, and notes plans for his hopes to visit Australia for events.

LINKS:

Albert and Christmas - Big W

Albert and Christmas - Booktopia

Albert the Tortoise website - www.alberttortoise.com

Albert the Tortoise on Facebook

Albert the Tortoise on X

Albert the Tortoise on Instagram

Albert the Tortoise on TikTok

Wales Publisher - Graffeg Books

Australian Distributor - Peribo Books

Follow The KidLit Pod on Instagram (@thekidlitpod)

Find out more about The KidLit Pod host, Shara Curlett, here:

Shara Curlett on Instagram (@sharacurlett)

Shara Curlett Website (www.sharacurlett.com)

Best-selling creative duo, Ben Wood and Andrew McDonald, delve deep into the world of pigeons, twigs, and their new spin-off series in this jam (and bread)-packed episode.

In this episode, host Shara Curlett chats with illustrator Ben and author Andrew, both Melbourne-based, whose work has been translated into 26 languages and recognized by major Australian book awards.

Ben and Andrew discuss how creativity shaped their childhoods, their paths into publishing, and how Real Pigeons originated from Andrew’s observations of humans vs. pigeons, alongside a museum-inspired “fancy pigeon” concept. Whilst Ben shares his introduction to the publishing world, alongside how his illustrative style was discovered via Instagram, despite having been already published.

The duo explain their collaborative process balancing text, comics, pacing, and humour. Ben shares his illustrative process, and how all of the line work in Real Pigeons is pencil-on-paper. They also discuss using research and building an ongoing idea lists to create a long arc across the series.

They address books as an antidote to tech/AI and emphasise the need for creative problem-solving, before announcing a super top secret new project - a Real Pigeons spin-off, Homey: Special Agent Pigeon, launching March 2027 featuring Homey, and new sidekick Flykick!

Shara also shares her love for the Hello Twigs books, and how a particular one - Surprise! - entered her family rituals.

Ben and Andrew finish the episode by sharing their current reads, love of graphic novels, and lastly, their favourite book in the Real Pigeons series.

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LINKS:

Real Pigeons Trap Snacks - Book 14 in the Real Pigeons series

Real Pigeons Website - realpigeons.com

Hello Twigs Website - hellotwigs.com

Ben Wood on Instagram - @benwoodillustrator

Ben Wood Website - benwood.com.au

Andrew McDonald on Instagram - mrandrewmcdonald

Andrew McDonald Website - mrandrewmcdonald.com

Follow The KidLit Pod on Instagram (@thekidlitpod)

Find out more about The KidLit Pod host, Shara Curlett, here:

Shara Curlett on Instagram (@sharacurlett)

Shara Curlett Website (www.sharacurlett.com)