Paul Jennings was born on the 30th of April, 1943 in Heston, near London. In 1949 his family imigrated to Australia, where he attended Bentleigh West Primary School.He trained to be a teacher at Frankston Teachers College, and taught at Frankston State School, Kangaroo Flat State School, the Turana Youth Training Centre, and the Royal Children's Hospital State School in Mount Eliza. He then went to the Lincoln Institute and became a speech pathologist. After that he became a lecturer, and lectured at Burwood State College and the Warrnambool Institute of Adult Education.

In 1985, Jennings' first book of short stories, Unreal! was published, during which he worked as a teacher, lecturer, speech therapist. In 1989, he made the decision to devote his full time to writing. His short stories were adapted for Round The Twist, a children's television series, in 1989 and 1992. New writers took over for the third and fourth season, but these new episodes did not match the popular acclaim of the originals.

Short story collections:

Unreal! Eight Surprising Stories (1985)

• Unbelievable! More Surprising Stories (1986)
• Quirky Tails! More Oddball Stories (1987)
• Uncanny! Even More Surprising Stories (1988)
• Unbearable! More Bizarre Stories (1990)
• The Naked Ghost, Burp! and Blue Jam (1991)
• Unmentionable! More Amazing Stories (1991)
• Undone! More Mad Endings (1993ings (1993)
• Uncovered! Weird, Weird Stories (1995)
• Unseen! (1998)
• Tongue Tied! (2002)

Novels:

• How Hedley Hopkins Did A Dare, Robbed A Grave, Made a New Friend Who Might Not Have Really Been There at All, and While He Was at It Committed a Terrible Sin Which Everyone Was Doing Even Though He Didn't Know It (2005) http://www.penguin.com.au/hedleyhopkins/intro.htm
• The Nest (2009) http://www.penguin.com.au/nest/

Chapter books:

The 'Cabbage Patch' series:

• The Cabbage Patch Fib (1988)
• The Cabbage Patch War (1996)
• The Cabbage Patch Pong (2002)
• The Cabbage Patch Curse (2004)

The 'Gizmo' series:

• The Gizmo (1994)
• The Gizmo Again (1995)
• Come Back Gizmo (1996)
• Sink The Gizmo (1997)

The 'Singenpoo' series:

• The Paw Thing (1989)
• Singenpoo Strikes Again (1998)
• Singenpoo Shoots Through (1999)
• Singenpoo's Secret Weapon (2001)

Other:

• The Spitting Rat (1999) (read online here at an archive of Paul Jennings' website, from August 15 2000)
• Sucked In (2000)
• Maggot (2003)

Picture books:

The 'Rascal' series:

• Rascal The Dragon
• Rascal In Trouble
• Rascal's Trick
• Rascal Takes Off
• Rascal At The Show
• Rascal And The Cheese
• Rascal And Little Flora
• Rascal And The Hot Air Balloon
• Rascal And The Monster
• Rascal Goes Fishing
• Rascal And The Dragon Droppings
• Little Rascal To The Rescue
• Rascal Plays Up
• Rascal Runs Away
• Rascal's Shadow
• Rascal and the Bad Smell - due for release August 2010
• Rascal Bumps His Head - due for release February 2011
• Rascal's Big Day - due for release April 2011

Other:

• Teacher Eater (1991)
• Grandad's Gifts (1993)
• The Fisherman and the Theefyspray (1994)

Collaborations with Morris Gleitzman:

Wicked (1997):

• Book 1 - The Slobberers
• Book 2 - Battering Rams
• Book 3 - Croaked
• Book 4 - Dead Ringer
• Book 5 - The Creeper
• Book 6 - Till Death Do Us Apart

Deadly (2000):

• Book 1 - Nude
• Book 2 - Brats
• Book 3 - Stiff
• Book 4 - Hunt
• Book 5 - Grope
• Book 6 - Pluck

Puzzle and Joke books:

• Spooner or Later (1992)
• Freeze A Crowd (1996)
• Duck For Cover (1997)
• Spit It Out (2003)

Compilations And Bind-ups:

• Thirteen! Unpredictable Tales (1995)
• Wicked: All six books in one (1998)
• Uncollected: Every Story from Unreal!, Unbelievable!, and Quirky Tails (1998)
• Uncollected: Volume Two: Every Story from Uncanny!, Unbearable!, and Unmentionable! (1999)
• Uncollected: Volume Three: Every Story from Undone!, Uncovered!, and Unseen! (2000)
• Deadly: All six books in one (2000)
• The Fantastic And Amazing Gizmo (2002)
• The Many Adventures of Singenpoo (2002)
• The Cabbage Patch Fibs (2002)
• Paul Jennings' Funniest Stories (2005)
• Paul Jennings' Weirdest Stories (2006)
• Paul Jennings' Spookiest Stories (2007)
• Paul Jennings' Trickiest stories (2008)

Other:

• Round The Twist (1990)
• The Reading Bug...and how to help your child to catch it
• Round The Twist #1: Pink Bow Tie & Nails (a graphic novel) (1993)
• The Paul Jennings Superdiary 1996
• The Paul Jennings Superdiary 1997
• The Paul Jennings Superdiary 2002

Paul Jennings has won many awards:

Young Australians' Best Book Award (YABBA):

1987 Unreal! - Winner, best book for older readers;

1988 Unbelievable! - Winner, best book for older readers;

1989 Uncanny! - Winner, best book for older readers;

1989 The Cabbage Patch Fib - Winner, best book for younger readers;

1990 The Paw Thing - Winner, best book for younger readers;

1991 Round The Twist - Winner, best book for older readers;

1992 Quirky Tails - Winner, fiction for younger readers;

1992 Unmentionable! - Winner, fiction for older readers;

1993 Unbearable! - Winner, fiction for older readers;

1994 Spooner Or Later - Winner, picture book section;

1994 Undone! - Winner, fiction for younger readers;

1995 Duck For Cover - Winner, picture book section;

1995 The Gizmo - Winner, fiction for younger readers;

1996 The Gizmo Again - Winner, fiction for younger readers;

1998 Wicked! - Winner, fiction for older readers;

2002 Tongue Tied - Winner, fiction for Younger Readers.

Canberra's Own Outstanding List Award (COOL):

1991 Round The Twist - Winner, Primary Section;

1992 The Cabbage Patch Fib - Winner, Primary Section;

1993 Unreal! - Winner, Primary Section;

1995 The Gizmo - Winner, Primary Section;

1997 The Paw Thing - Winner, Secondary Section;

1998 Wicked! - Winner, Primary Section;

2001 The Paw Thing - Winner, Coolest Book of the Decade.

West Australian Young Readers' Book Award (WAYRA):

1989 Unreal! - Winner of Special Award, Highest Ranked Australian Author, Secondary Readers Section;

1991 The Paw Thing - Winner of Hoffman Award, Highest Ranked Australian Author and Primary Readers Section;

1992 Uncanny! - Winner of Hoffman Award, Highest Ranked Australian Author and Primary Readers Section;

1994 Unbearable! - Winner of Hoffman Award, Highest Ranked Australian Author and Primary Readers Section;

1995 Undone! - Winner of Hoffman Award, Highest Ranked Australian Author and Primary Readers Section.

Kids Own Australian Literature Award (KOALA):

1990 Unreal! - Winner Secondary Readers Section;

1992 Unmentionable! - Winner Infant/Primary Readers Section;

1993 Unbearable! - Winner Infant/Primary Readers Section;

1994 Undone! - Winner Infant/Primary Readers Section;

1995 Duck For Cover - Winner Infant/Primary Readers Section;

1996 Uncovered! - Winner Senior Book.

Kids Reading Oz Choice Award (KROC):

1990 Uncanny! - Winner Most Popular Oz Book;

1991 Unbelievable! - Winner Most Popular Oz Book;

1992 Unreal! - Winner Most Popular Oz Book;

1993 Undone! - Winner Most Popular Oz Book;

1994 Undone! - Winner Most Popular Oz Book;

1995 The Gizmo - Winner Most Popular Oz Book;

1996 Round the Twist - Winner Most Popular Oz Book;

1997 Wicked! - Winner Most Popular Oz Book;

1998 Wicked! - Winner Most Popular Oz Book;

1999 The Gizmo - Best Oz Children's Book;

2000 - No.s 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 10 in the Top Ten Books.

Books I Like Best Yearly Award (BILBY):

1992 Unreal! - Winner Read Alone Primary Section;

1994 Undone! - Winner Read Alone Primary Section;

1996 The Gizmo - Winner Read Australian Primary Section.

Order of Australia:

1995 - appointed Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM), in the Australia Day 1995 Honours List, for service to children’s literature.

Victorian of the Year ... Western Region

1993 - won Western Region Victorian of the Year Award — presented by the Australia Day (Victoria) Committee, for services to the Victorian Community.

Australian Writers' Guild:

1990, AWGIE Award — Best Children’s Adaptation (TV) Round The Twist;

1993, AWGIE Award — Best Children’s Adaptation (TV) Round The Twist - Episode 5.

Gold Puffin Award:

1992, for selling one million books in Australia.

ABPA Joyce Nicholson Award:

1993, Spooner Or Later — winner, best designed children's book of the year.

Angus & Robertson Bookworld Award:

1993, Australian Author — Children’s Literary Medal Criteria, 'Best Selling Author' and 'Most Valued Author'.

Wilderness Society Environment Award for Children's Literature:

1994, Picture Book — The Fisherman And The Theefyspray.

Prix Jeunesse Award:

1994 - Winner Round The Twist (Television Series).

Australian Publishers Association ... Book Industry Awards:

1997 - Peoples Choice Award for Children’s Books for Come Back Gizmo.

Christian Schools' Book Award:

1998 - awarded to Paul Jennings and Jane Tanner for The Fisherman And The Theefyspray.

Dymocks Children's Choice Awards:

1998 - Favourite Australian Author;

1998 - Favourite Australian Younger Reader Book, Sink The Gizmo;

1998 - Favourite Australian Older Reader Book, Wicked.

Queensland Premiers Literary Award:

1999 - Best Children's Book Unseen!.

Dromkeen (2000):

awarded the Dromkeen Medal, for significant contributions to the appreciation and development of children's literature.