Anna Fienberg is an Australian picture-book author. Nearly all of Anna’s books have been listed as Notable Books by the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA).
Background
Anna was born on November 23, 1956, in Canterbury, England, United Kingdom. She moved with her family to Australia when she was three years old.
Anna grew up in a house filled with books. Her mother was a teacher librarian who relished stories as much as chocolates. ‘On Sunday mornings we’d all lie in bed with our books, lost in magical wardrobes, witches’ spells, genies’ magic… What we were going to read next was just as important in our family as what was for lunch!’ says Anna.
She started writing stories when she was eight but never imagined being an author.
Education
Anna Fienberg studied psychology, fascinated by the dark world of dreams, but gave up.
Career
Anna Fienberg started to work as an editor at School Magazine. After reading over one thousand children’s books for review purposes, she decided that she was expert enough to begin writing her own stories for young children. Billy Bear and the Wild Winter, which was published in 1988, would be the first of many popular books Fienberg has written, featuring what Kerry White described in St. James Guide to Children’s Writers as “resourceful children who develop their special talents in worlds where almost anything is possible.”
In 1999 Fienberg expanded her writing into a new genre. Her first young-adult novel, Borrowed Light, examines life and love from a more mature teenage perspective.
The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels is a collection of stories that focus on the whimsical worlds captured in daydreams. In each of Fienberg’s tales the main character is a young person with a unique talent that in his or her daydreams becomes a source of power. Praising the sense of humor that runs throughout The Magnificent Nose, Horn Book contributor Karen Jameyson noted that a “magical feeling drifts pleasantly from page to page” throughout the entire volume.
The Hottest Boy Who Ever Lived, another picture-book offering by Fienberg, isn’t the story of an adolescent dream date; instead, the story finds Hector heating up everything around him. A pleasant tale that emphasizes friendship and overcoming differences, The Hottest Boy Who Ever Lived was praised by Magpies reviewer John Murray as “a happy tale of friendship found and loneliness defeated, with characters that complement one another in the most direct way.”
Characters embodying opposites are also featured in Wiggy and Boa. Here Fienberg introduces Boadicea Bolderack, or Boa, a young teen who is constantly cajoled as to the virtues of tidiness by her grandfather. Horn Book contributor Ellen Fader described Wiggy and Boa as “a robust tale ... told with great energy and rollicking good humor,” while in School Library Journal, reviewer Ruth Smith maintained that Fienberg’s book was an entertaining combination of “an Aikenesque sense of melodrama (and),... Roald Dahl’s appetite for the grotesque.”
The ‘'Tashi” stories, which were praised by Magpies j contributor Russ Merrin as “a gentle, imaginative, and highly enjoyable fantasy,” began with a chat between Fienberg and her mother.
In 1999 Fienberg penned her first novel for young-adult readers, Borrowed Light.
