Matt Zurbo facts for kids

Matt Zurbo (born 17 July 1967) is an Australian writer. He writes books for children and young adults. He also writes about sports and is a novelist.

Matt Zurbo's Early Life and First Books

Matt Zurbo grew up in the northern part of Melbourne, Australia. Later, he moved to the Otway Ranges. There, he worked in the bush and spent most of his adult life writing.

Starting His Writing Journey

Matt's first stories were published in a collection by Pascoe Publishing. His first full book came out in 1996. It was a children's picture book called Blow Kid Blow!. Penguin Books published it, and Jeff Raglus, an artist from Mambo, drew the pictures. Matt also published his own book of poems, titled Writing By Moonlight.

I Got a Rocket! and Other Early Successes

In 1997, Matt Zurbo worked with illustrator Dean Gorissen again. They created another picture book called I Got a Rocket!. This book later became an animated TV series with the same name. The TV show won an Emmy Award in 2008 for new children's programming.

That same year, Matt also released his first novels for young adults. These were Idiot Pride and Flyboy and the Invisible. Both were published by Penguin Books. Idiot Pride was a finalist for the 1998 Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers. It was also named one of Victoria's 150 Greatest Books.

More Young Adult Novels and Picture Books

In 2004, Matt released his third young adult novel, Hot Nights, Cool Dragons. This book was a runner-up for the 2004 Aurealis Award for best young-adult novel.

Matt returned to writing children's picture books in 2008. He released three books with Hachette. These included Fred the Croc with Sarah Dunk and Lulu's Wish with Ben de Quadros-Wander. In 2009, he teamed up with Dean Gorissen again for My Dad's a Wrestler. This book was partly based on Matt's stand-up comedy character, the Perculator.

He then moved to Windy Hollow Books. There, he released Tommy Tuckers in 2012. This book was a collection of three short children's stories with Alex Tyers. His next children's book, I Love Footy, came out in 2013. Matt painted the pictures for this book himself. His last book with Windy Hollow was Moon in 2016, illustrated by Sadami Konchi.

Sports Writing and Unique Projects

Matt Zurbo has also written a lot about sports.

Champions All and Heart & Soul

Matt spent three years traveling around Australia. During this time, he interviewed 141 famous and well-known AFL/VFL football legends. These interviews were for his 700-page book, Champions All, an Oral History of AFL/VFL Football. Five Mile Press published it in 2016.

Later, in 2019, he created a shorter book called Heart & Soul. This book used the 20 best interviews from Champions All.

The Cielo 365 Project

In 2018, Matt started a big challenge. He aimed to write 365 children's stories in 365 days. He published them for free online. He named this project Cielo after his baby daughter.

He worked on this project while doing bush work across Australia. His jobs took him from the tropical Daintree Rainforest, through the Outback, to the mountains of Victoria. Finally, he moved to Southern Tasmania. To finish Cielo, he worked in Oyster farming.

The New York Times wrote an article about the Cielo 365 project. This helped make Matt's work known around the world.

Matt has two new children's books coming out with Macmillan. He has also been a feature writer for The Footy Almanac for ten years.

Matt Zurbo's Personal Life

Matt Zurbo has played over 650 games of Australian rules football. He has played in four different states and still plays today.

Between 2002 and 2005, he had a comedy radio show. He played a character called The Perculator, who was an ex-wrestler. He also did several years of stand-up comedy and performed at comedy festivals. Matt also formed a band, but they only played in his living room! He is also known for his work in rainforest regeneration.

Currently, Matt lives on the road with his wife, Elena, who is from Venezuela, and their child, Cielo. He continues his bush work and writes his next novel.

Awards and Nominations

Matt Zurbo's books have been recognized with several awards and nominations.

Aurealis Awards

• Best Young Adult Novel
  • 2004: Nominated for: Hot Nights, Cool Dragons

Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award

• Older Readers
  • 1998: Shortlisted for: Idiot Pride