Patricia Wrightson was born in Lismore, NSW June 19, 1921. She attended several State schools including the State Correspondence School for children in the country, and also boarded at a private school. Wrighton was educated by her father in literature, philosophy and wonder; and by her mother in the social sciences. Wrightson's first published book was The Bunyip Hole, in 1957. Her books have won many prestigious awards all over the world, including an OBE (Officer of the British Empire) in 1977, the Dromkeen Medal in 1984 and the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1986. She is a four-time winner of the Australian Children's Book Council Book of the Year Award: in 1956 for The Crooked Snake,… in 1974 for The Nargun and the Stars, in 1978 for The Ice Is Coming and in 1984 for A Little Fear. She has also won the CBC Book of the Year, Young Reader Honour Book in 1998 for Rattler's Place: Aussie Bites; she was shortlisted in 1992 for the CBC Book of the Year for The Sugar-gum Tree :Aussie Bites; and she was on the commended list of the NSW Family Therapy Association Award in 1991 for The Sugar-gum Tree: Aussie Bites NSW Premier's Literary Award for children's literature has been named after Wrightson.