What is a Dot?

Johanna Bell is an award-winning author who lives in nipaluna (Hobart) on the land of the Muwinina. She loves writing poetry and working with artists to make all kinds of illustrated books. Her work has been published in literary journals and by Allen & Unwin, Scholastic and UQP. Previously, Johanna lived in the Northern Territory where she made books with deaf artist Dion Beasley. In 2017, they won the CBCA Picture Book of the Year for Go Home Cheeky Animals and in 2020, they were nominated for a Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Cheeky Dogs: To Lake Nash and Back, an illustrated memoir about Dion’s life. When Johanna’s not writing, you’ll likely find her watching birds or doodling in the margins.

Amelia Luscombe is a visual artist based in Rubibi (Broome), Western Australia. Growing up on a bush block and working in galleries across the Kimberley and the Top End has informed her art practice which is inextricably linked to day-to-day life and local landscapes. Amelia majored in printmaking and drawing at Curtin University and continues to create using these mediums while playing with mural painting, textiles and ceramics. Her approach to creative expression is fun, curious and deeply connected to the child within (who delights in sitting in mud puddles, swinging from trees and pelting her sister with gumnuts). What is a Dot? is Amelia’s first picture book.