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About Kristin
Kristin Darell has always loved words and stories, and feels lucky to have been writing as a career for more than 25 years. Born into a book-loving family, she was always making up stories with her identical twin sister. They’d spend hours creating wild adventures for their Smurfs or Star Wars figurines. But it was in Grade 3 that her passion for writing really took off — she wrote a poem that made her teacher laugh and cry, and discovered first-hand how powerful words could be.
Whether it was making up adventures with her twin sister or writing about the world around her, Kristin was rarely found without a pen and paper in hand. As an adult, she made this passion her life, working as a broadcast news and sports journalist for major Australian news organisations for more than twenty years.
After a few false starts with study, Kristin completed a Diploma of Journalism and started working as a 24-hour news producer for the Australian News Channel. That led to a reporting role in Canberra and a stint writing for a weekend sports show, before she went back to producing live and breaking news for the Seven Network. In 2012, she began working for Sunrise — but she’ll never reveal who the Cash Cow really is!
Taking breaks from work, Kristin found the courage to go on her own adventures, working as a ski instructor in Australia, Canada (where she knocked out one of her front teeth), and the United States. She’s also explored castles and ancient forests in her ancestral home of Latvia, the cobbled streets of Bruges, Amsterdam’s canals, and travelled across India from the western desert to the forests in the north, where she came face to face with a tiger.
Kristin admits she’s not a rule breaker, which could explain why her favourite stories are all about pushing boundaries and adventure. She especially loves books in which characters discover they can be so much more than they ever imagined. Some of her favourites include Peter Pan, the Narnia series, Enid Blyton’s The Faraway Tree, Anne MacCaffrey’s Dragon Riders series and Watership Down. Her favourite courageous character is Jo March from Little Women.
Now an author of ten books for children, Kristin’s work includes her best-selling Football Fever series (2022 and 2023, Penguin Random House), the Taronga presents series (2024, Penguin Random House), where she had to find out plenty of interesting facts about animal poo, and her new series It’s a Twin Thing with titles The Break Up and The Big Switch (2026, Penguin Random House). She has also contributed to children’s writing anthologies and written essays for adults on writing.
When she isn’t writing or sharing her love for stories and creativity in schools, Kristin is a passionate advocate for children’s literacy. She works behind the scenes as the Program Director for the Australian Children’s Laureate Foundation, serves on the committee for the ASLA DANZ Children’s Book Awards, is a Books in Homes Role Model, an Author Pen Pal, and works with the CBCA NSW. She’s also a member of the ASA and SCBWI.
Kristin lives on Sydney’s northern beaches with her husband, two children, two dogs, a pet snake, and a three-legged pygmy bearded dragon.
Quick Questions!
I live on Sydney’s Northern Beaches with my husband, two daughters, three step-kids (when they are in town), two dogs, pet snake and three-legged pygmy bearded dragon (who definitely needs her own book one day!).
Sydney Australia on 31 July 1973.
I get to share my birthday every year with my identical twin sister. Her name is Rachel!
I like to write in different places, but my favourite is at my little corner desk, hidden behind my big bookcase and surrounded by all my favourite things (including lots of Mickey Mouse, Marvel and Star Wars toys!)
I think it’s because of my mum. She loved reading and had a bookcase so tall you needed a ladder to reach the top. There were so many books, but we would also visit our public library every, single week. I still have my library card from 1976! Either my mum or my dad would also read to us at night. I still love discovering amazing new stories.
I’m not a risk taker, but being silly is one of my favourite things (mind you I’m terrible at telling jokes!) I think perhaps the silliest thing I have done was when I was a little girl – around 6 or 7 years old. My sister and I thought our parents told us we were going on a boat. We were so excited. We hopped in the car and drove to a … polling booth, so they could cast their vote in the Federal Election. Then it hit us. Our parents hadn’t said we were going on a boat… they’d told us they were going to VOTE! We both promptly burst into tears.
I met so many incredible people working as a journalist. I covered natural disasters, court and crime stories and witnessed history in the making, but it is the people who stayed with me. Many of them were just like you and I, but being forced to deal with extraordinary things. My top three were meeting residents of Sussex Inlet after fire swept through their town and listening to their stories of community and courage, being there to see Steven Bradbury and Alisa Camplin win Gold for Australia at the 2002 Winter Olympics and meeting martial arts legend Jackie Chan!
My favourite saying is a quote by Walt Disney – “Growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional”. Perhaps that’s why I love writing for kids so much. It gives me permission to think like a kid, every single day!
While I was working as a journalist, I did a Law Degree. I had it in my head that I wanted to make a difference by working for the United Nations. I decided making kids smile by writing stories was a much better idea in the end. I also love collecting anything to do with Mickey Mouse … and random coffee cups (the sillier the better).
That’s tough! Characters are my favourite part of any story, so if I have to choose one superpower it would be the power to enter the books I love, meet the characters, and be part of the story.
- Read lots, write lots, and don’t give up. We all have stories to tell and the world will never have enough stories.
- Don’t forget to make trouble for your character.
- Write with other people. You don’t have to do it all alone. Creating or working on stories with friends is one of my favourite things to do.
I am excited to be working on some new middle grade projects (still top secret) which are both stretching my writing and keeping my imagination working overtime. I’m also excited to be out talking about my ‘It’s a Twin Thing’ books and reminding all the kids I meet that Everyone has a story. Life is very good!
Didn’t see your question there? Kristin often gets asked these fun questions from readers and schools. If there’s something you’re curious about, feel free to send it through below.
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