Mark Svendsen is author of two young adult novels - Snigger James on Grey and Poison Under their Lips and three independent readers, Three Moon Lagoon (Greater Glider), Rat Face and Snake Eyes and Shadowsnake. He also authored Captain Me, a rollicking and poetic picture book illustrated by David Cox. Another nonsense verse picture book, Circus Carnivore, illustrated by Ben Redlich, was released in 2005 and, Kestrel with Steven Woolman and Laura Peterson in 2006. Circus Carnivore was also released in the United States and Canada by Houghton Mifflin in that year. Whacko the Chook was Mark's picture book offering for 2007, again in partnership with Ben Redlich. All with Lothian/Hachette. Mark… also wrote the lyrics for Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin's two choral symphonies. This is a natural extension of Mark's poetry writing - with which genre he wages an ongoing struggle. He has recently completed a commission for a play with music, Thank You for Your Happiness with composer Stephen Phillips and a draft of an adult novel written for a Creative Writing Masters at QUT titled Tears of Glass.