Elaine Forrestal

Elaine Forrestal (born 1941)^[1] is a Western Australian writer of books for children and young adults, including her 1996 book, Someone Like Me.

Career

Elaine Forrestal was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1941.^[2] She graduated with a Bachelor of Education and Diploma of Teaching from Edith Cowan University.^[3] She worked as a school teacher prior to taking up full-time writing in 1999.^[3][4] She also holds a higher degree in creative writing from the University of Western Australia.^[3]

Forrestal began publishing short stories in 1983. The Watching Lake, published in 1991, was her first novel^[3] and was shortlisted for the 1992 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards.^[2]

In 2012 Forrestal was presented with the Muriel Barwell Award for Distinguished Service to Children's Literature by the Western Australian branch of the Children's Book Council of Australia.^[2]

Her papers, including manuscripts and correspondence, are held in the State Library of Western Australia.^[4]

Awards and recognition

Someone Like Me

• Winner, West Australian Young Readers' Book Award – Hoffman Award, 1997^[2]
• Winner, CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers, 1998^[2]
• Shortlisted, YABBA – Fiction for Older Readers, 1999^[2]

Selected works

• The Watching Lake, Puffin, 1991
• Someone Like Me, Puffin, 1996
• Leaving No Footprints, Puffin, 2001
• Miss Llewellyn Jones, Fremantle Press, 2008
• Black Jack Anderson, Penguin, 2008
• Goldfields Girl, Fremantle Press, 2020