Deborah Abela
writer

Deborah Abela (born 13 October 1966) is an Australian author of children's books, most notably the Max Remy, Super Spy series, Grimsdon and Teresa – A New Australian. She was born in Sydney, Australia, and has been writing for 15 years. She does the Virtual Book Week Dart Session for kids.
Awards
2026 CBCA (NSW) Lady Cutler Award for Distinguished Services to Children's Literature
2017 KOALA Legend (Kids Own Literature Awards)
2017, 2012, 2011 Grimsdon Shortlisted for YABBA and KOALA awards
2017 Teresa – A New Australian Shortlisted for WAYRBA Awards (Western Australian Young Readers Book Awards)
2017 Teresa – A New Australian Best Book in Translation, Malta Book Awards
2017 The Stupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee shortlisted for the Australian Family Therapists Awards
2015 Ghost Club series shortlisted for KOALA, YABBA, CROC awards
2015 New City shortlisted for the KOALA, YABBA, CROC awards
2013 Ghost Club series shortlisted for Sisters In Crime Davitt Awards
2013 Maurice Saxby Award for Services to Children's Literature
2012 The Remarkable Secret of Aurelie Bonhoffen shortlisted Outstanding International Book Award USBBY
2011 Grimsdon awarded Most Enthralling Junior Fiction Award
2011 Grimsdon shortlisted Aurealis Awards
2011 Grimsdon shortlisted Speech Pathology Awards
2010 The Remarkable Secret of Aurelia Bonhoffen, was shortlisted for best children's book in the 2010, and was awarded "Notable Book of 2010" by the Children's Book Council of Australia.
2010 The Remarkable Secret of Aurelie Bonhoffen shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards
2010, 2007, 2005 Max Remy Superspy voted best series KOALA and YABBA awards
2008 Max Remy Superspy Angus and Robertson's Top 50 books
2007 Max Remy Superspy shortlisted USA Children's Choice Awards and WAYRBA awards
In 2008, she was awarded the May Gibbs Fellowship for Children's Literature.
Awarded the 2006 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Best Book Award.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Deborah Abela” is writer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Deborah, Abela and writer, not as a finished interpretation.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5248157. VIAF identifies the subject as 56000767. The Library of Congress control number is n2004029975. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1966, 2026, 2017 and 2012.
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This entry incorporates text from “Deborah Abela” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.