Cirrus@Austlit

'Teagan Chilcott, is a descendant of the Kamilaroi people from Northern NSW and Wakka Wakka people from Queensland. She was born in Brisbane, and raised by her mother and grandmother. As a child, Teagan went to Taigum State School and Scarborough State Primary School where, in grade 7, she won the Indigenous Student of the Year Award (Deadly Student Award), and gave her first speech at NAIDOC.

In high school, at the Brisbane School of Distance Education, Teagan felt she had found her independence and confidence to truly pursue her writing, along with the encouragement of her mother. She studied at BSDE for the rest of grade 8 until she reached grade 10. Throughout her high school years Teagan wrote many short stories, writing bits and pieces during her lunch breaks and in the afternoons. She moved to Wavell State High School in 2008, and won the Indigenous Education to Employment Scholarship. In her senior year Teagan began working on Rise of the Fallen. The idea for the novel came in a dream, and she wrote the final chapter of the novel first before writing the beginning. She had never entered a writing competition in her school years, as she had never felt confident enough. Teagan finished Grade 12 at Wavell State High School in 2010.' (Source: State Library of Queensland website www.slq.qld.gov.au)