Tim Pegler – August 8 2021

Tim is an award-winning journalist and author. He studied criminology and English literature at university before taking up a cadetship as a journalist. During his decade at The Age and The Australian, Tim won several awards before switching to online media, working briefly as a film reviewer and then as a website editor. His first novel for young adults, Game as Ned, is a re-imagining of the Ned Kelly story exploring themes such as bullying, difference and injustice. Told through the eyes of two teenagers, the book has attracted rave reviews from secondary students, particularly from the toughest critics of all – reluctant readers. At least one school has added Five Parts Dead to their Year 10 book list with a view to triggering discussions about drink-driving, grief, guilt and truth. Tim lives in Melbourne and is currently working as a website editor and freelance journalist.

Game as Ned
Harper Collins, 2007; ISBN 9780732285760
12-18 years
Ned is a teenager with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Australian bushrangers. He is also autistic. Erin is a sixteen-year-old trouble-magnet trying to make a fresh start in a new town. Ned never speaks. Erin rarely stops – and when she stands up to a bully the consequences are catastrophic. Silent, desperate, on the run. Branded ‘disturbed and dangerous’ by the police. To set things right, he’ll have to be as game as Ned Kelly….

Five Parts Dead
Text Publishing, 2010; ISBN 9781921656286
12-18 years
What do you do – who do you turn to – when you’ve just lost three of your best mates and your life is suddenly bound to a wheelchair? Dan has dodged the Reaper again. If he were a cat, five of his nine lives would be gone – when his mates didn’t even get second chances. He’s still grieving their deaths when he’s dragged on a family holiday at a remote island lighthouse. Left alone, at what feels like the end of the earth, Dan starts sensing a mysterious girl. Is she a dream? Or has he somehow hooked into the spirit world? The lighthouse logbook helps illuminate some of the girl’s tragic story but Dan will have to dig deeper to find answers and the inspiration to embrace life again.