
Simon Higgins is a former police officer, prosecutor and private investigator. A long-term martial arts student and history buff, his international publishing career spans 25 years, 15 novels, and several foreign language editions. His track record includes 2 bestsellers, 2 Children's Book Council of Australia Notable Book Awards, short-listings for the Ned Kelly Crime Fiction and Aurealis Fantasy Awards, and a Fellowship of Australian Writers Award.
Simon holds a black belt in Iaido and came 5th in the traditional sword art's world titles in Kyoto, Japan, in 2008. He's authored short stories, visual novels, plays and screenplays for internationally-awarded films and animated TV shows. Simon has appeared at writers' festivals and taught creative writing and intercultural empathy in schools and universities globally. He now lives in southern China, lecturing tertiary students and writing for TV.
Learn more about Simon and his latest book at www.simonhiggins.net
Live and Virtual Visits
When in Australia, Simon is available for live school visits, and when back in China, for Virtual Visits using either Skype or Zoom.
Simon is the husband of Jenny Wang.
Simon Higgins Sessions
When in Australia, Simon is available for live school visits, and when back in China, for Virtual Visits using either Skype or Zoom. Check out his very popular 'speaker's menu':
Meet the Author Talks
Simon's dynamic presentations routinely centre on his exciting historical novels and the research process and martial arts training that underpins them. But equally, he can unpack his Crime or Speculative Fiction work, as per teachers' preferences. Simon tailors his talks to support each school's immediate focus, be it reading, writing, genre studies, a language, or intercultural empathy. He describes his talks as 'laced with humour, stories -and secrets!'
Creative Writing Workshops
Simon runs a variety of empowering creative writing workshops, each attuned to the age group and curriculum needs of the students. He corresponds in advance with teachers by email in order to deliver the most ideal and applicable material. Students leave Simon's workshops with a brand new writing skillset and fresh confidence. Over the last 25 years, his most popular workshops have been The Art of Openings and Secrets of Short Story Writing.
Chinese and Japanese Culture & Language Studies (LOTE)
Having lived in East Asia for over a decade, experiencing -and even training in- cultural practices dating back millennia, Simon is the ideal guest teacher for LOTE, history or cultural studies classes. While deconstructing the timeline, arts, folklore and traditional sciences of China or Japan, he shares fascinating anecdotes from his life in these remarkable nations and engages students with humorous, insightful tips for learning Mandarin or Japanese.
Joint Sessions with Jenny Wang
Simon and Jenny also team up to give Chinese language and history students fabulous insights in a uniquely engaging way…see below!
‘Secrets of the Land of the Dragon’
A window into life (and communicating) in China, combining culture, history, customs and language tips…a must for students learning the Chinese language and/or exploring this ancient and powerful culture, now quickly growing in influence in the modern world.
See Jenny's workshop sessions here.
Testimonials
“Really enjoyed it! Learnt some great writing techniques and ideas.” Fletcher
Ruby “I have learnt a lot today about writing and I am very excited to go home and attempt this again.”
Maya “It was a very informative workshop with great explanations. Thank you Simon.”
Lauren “Simon was very good at explaining everything. The session was very instructive
and detailed. Thank you Simon.”
“Simon showed us how to set out a story while making very funny jokes.” Callum
Louis “Simon, you’re a great, humorous author and engaged me in every bit of the lesson.”
“I really enjoyed the session. I found Simon funny and really inspiring” Harvey.
Dylan “He inspired me to write stories with his ‘Plot Driven Planning’ technique.”
“I really enjoyed the workshop with Simon. It helped me generate lots of creative ideas” Parker.
“Simon was very helpful, funny and I learnt a lot about story structure and writing”
Isabella.
Ethan “I learnt to use an introduction, a complication, a climax and a resolution. P.S. Simon is awesome.”
“I really enjoyed learning about creating drama and how important it is to plan” Aurora.
PJ “I learnt how to plan a story and where the biggest part of the story is. Simon is
awesome!
Holland Park State School - July 2018Simon Higgins helped us kick off a week long celebration of learning as part of Catholic Week activities at Jubilee Primary.
Students from Year 3 to 6 participated in talks and workshops throughout the day and the overwhelming feedback was positive. Reluctant writers actively engaged in Simon's writing workshop and the students were captivated by his stories and Martial Arts demonstration.
Simon was flexible in his delivery and could tailor his talk to reflect the differing age of students.
Jubilee State School - July 2018I wanted to comment on Simon Higgins who came to our school over 2 days to primarily work with Year 9 students on the writing of the crime narrative. As always, Simon was generous in sharing his experiences within the law enforcement field. His input was very beneficial to our students in the writing and editing of their work. We also held a breakfast and a writing workshop and our students benefitted greatly from Simon’s input. We thoroughly enjoyed the two days.
Iona College - August 2016We had an excellent visit from Simon. It met and surpassed our expectations. The students loved his stories and the martial arts displays were enthusiastically received.
I would absolutely book Simon again and I have nothing but praise for the organisation of the visit.
Saint Stephens College, May, 2015.Thanks so much for yesterday. Your sessions were great and we have had students in this morning asking...where are your books! Simon was great he manipulated his presentations to the age level and composition of the audience and handled both the 130 students presentation and the 50 students equally well.
Would definitely get Simon back next year again if he’s available.
St. Peters Lutheran College, August, 2015.
Dark Spear: A Visual Novel
Tomodachi - The Forest of the Night
Tomodachi: The Edge of the World
Moonshadow: Eye of the Beast
Moonshadow: The Wrath of Silver Wolf
Thunderfish
Moonshadow: The Twilight War
Featured Speakers
Stop Press
Choose Your Own Adventure!
To tie in with the 2025 Book Week theme, ‘Book an Adventure’, Dave Lowe has adapted his popular ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ workshop, as a ‘presentation’-style 45- / 60-minute session for large groups of students, from Years 3 to 8. In this fun, highly-interactive session, Dave will share insights into ideas-generation and plotting, and give each student a story template, as well as all the tips and tricks they’ll need to make their own short ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’-style book that they can take home and try out on friends and family.
New Releases See all books
Touring Speakers See all tour dates
Speaker | Location | Tour dates | Book now |
---|---|---|---|
Gold Coast / Brisbane | 14 Jul - 24 Jul 2025 | ||
Brisbane | 23 Jul - 25 Jul 2025 | ||
Brisbane | 28 Jul - 01 Aug 2025 | ||
Brisbane | 01 Aug - 09 Sep 2025 | ||
Brisbane / Gold Coast | 04 Aug - 08 Aug 2025 |
What people are saying
Having Kim come to our centre for her art workshops has been an amazing experience. Even children who usually have no interest in art or being inside found a lot of excitement and passion as Kim arrived each day. Her expertise really shines through as she explains often complex art concepts in a way our 4 and 5-year-olds understood. Each lesson builds on from the previous one, helping children not only understand art a little better but also shapes, colours, and other academic aspects. We foun [...]
I loved how relatable Michelle was for our students. She spoke about struggles she had during primary school and still achieved her goals as an author. This is so important for all our students to hear, especially our support students. Michelle seamlessly adapted her author talks to each year level and all students were engaged. The small group workshops were a hit also as Michelle was so encouraging and her tips and tricks were easy for any student to enact.
We’ve had our Author Visit with Catherine Bateson during Book Week and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Gregg was so funny and entertaining! A very talented storyteller and musician but also a great teacher. His stories were structured to deliver important messages about the Indigenous culture that resonated with all of our Year 2 students. Would have him back again and again.
Richard was fantastic! We all loved him :)
Phillip engaged the students with his humour and personal perspectives on writing. The olfactory imagery activity was fruitful and he provided incisive and constructive feedback on student pieces., heightening their awareness of the writing process. He spoke purposefully about creating characters with ambition and motivation.
Alison presented to our Year 7s as part of their work in English on writing from a perspective as a historical figure. She held the students’ interest with her calm delivery and engaging stories about how she used historical research into her own middle grade novel, inspiring them to weave interesting facts into their own work. Ali was easy to work with and very professional; I was particularly impressed with how she linked our students’ work with her own presentation to make it even more relata [...]
I thoroughly enjoyed Juliette's visit. She was bright happy and energetic and honest. We all loved her sense of humour. I loved the way she opened up about a writer’s life and her family, the children could really identify with her. Room 3's eyes were alight when she read the book we had focused on. It was great for the students to have Juliette explain how she created 'Gwendolyn' as that was the book that was assigned to our class. It was particularly great for the children to see how an auth [...]
'We always receive positive reviews from participants after Julie's training sessions. She is consistently organised, well-presented, professional, and engaging.
Speakers Ink Agency is always efficient and professional. They offer ideas and deliver solutions. Thank you once again for your terrific service.
Kellie was well prepared and engaging during her storytime sessions. She catered well to the audience ages and we enjoyed hearing her back story as well.