Libby Gleeson
Libby Gleeson AM (born 1950) is an Australian children's author from Young, New South Wales. She is one of six children; her siblings include journalist Michael Gleeson and Margie Gleeson, who leads Creative and Performing Arts at Albury High School. She is the mother of Jessica Tovey, a Home and Away actress, and Josephine Tovey, a Sydney Morning Herald journalist.
She studied history at the University of Sydney and taught in Picton. In the mid-1970s she spent five years in Italy teaching English, then moved to London where she began writing her first novel, Eleanor Elizabeth. After returning to Australia she taught at the University of Sydney. In the last twenty years she has written about twenty books and taught creative writing. She writes picture books and novels for both young children and slightly older readers, and has written scripts for ABC’s Bananas in Pyjamas and Magic Mountain.
She is married to scientist Euan Tovey; they have three adult daughters and live in Sydney’s inner west. She is a Fellow with MindChamps, focusing on education.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 02:17 (CET).