Pat Flynn grew up running around an old dairy farm in Queensland before moving to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra on a tennis scholarship. After playing and coaching on the professional circuit he became a teacher, where his observations of young people – their interests and stories – led to him writing a series about a teenage skateboarder named Alex Jackson.

Pat now writes full time and lives on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. To the Light was shortlisted for the 2006 CBCA Book Awards, and The Tuckshop Kid received an Honour Book prize in the 2007 Awards, as well as being shortlisted for the QLD Premier’s Award. Flynn’s YA novel The Line Formation was released in America in 2008 (titled Out of his League), making the PSLA top forty list of 2009.

Pat likes to start the day with a surf and end it playing tennis with his wife and son. His latest books include the Adventures of Danny Series, How to Get Dumped and The Toilet Kid.