Bella Grows a Bicycle

Kellie, who writes and illustrates under the pen name Lellie Lopter, is an award-winning author, illustrator, and creative storyteller. She won the Marshall Allan Hill Writing Competition, was a finalist in the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Competition, and was shortlisted for the Noble Hawk Illustration Prize. Her debut picture book, Rhyme Time (2023), was a finalist in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards, while My Brother Born Sleeping (2023) earned an Honorable Mention in the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards.

Kellie studied art in Broken Hill, completed children's illustration in Mildura, and earned a Certificate of Professional Children's Writing through Cengage Australia. She has been mentored by the NSW Writing Centre and Exisle Academy and was selected for Writers Victoria's 2024 Writeability Goes Online program for writers with a disability.

A passionate advocate for children's literacy, Kellie is an active member of SCBWI, ASA, and Writers Victoria. She contributes to the PLCC Author Backpack Project, the Author Pen Pals Program, the Incognito Art Show, and leads Sunraysia's Free Little Library Project.