Tanya Hennessy is a colourful and creative being with a penchant for pink and a desire to make a difference, one book at a time.
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Her latest, Pink Santa, is due for release on August 29 and, as we have come to expect with Hennessy's work, it has a valuable and inclusive message to share - for children and adults alike.
'Tis the night before Christmas and all is calm in Santa's workshop. The presents are wrapped and the sleigh is polished. All that's left to do is wash Santa's iconic red-and-white suit ... What could possibly go wrong?
Plenty, it seems.
This is a funny and warmhearted tale about embracing change and being yourself - and it's timely, too.
Hennessy has already been attacked online for writing Pink Santa and the book hasn't even been released yet.
"I am someone who is relentlessly and freely myself," she tells Weekender.
"But it took me a long time to find who I am, and now that I know, it's my greatest superpower.
"Pink Santa is about being yourself, and finding that best version, even if it's not what you originally thought or planned.
"Change is inevitable ... so how can we learn not only to survive but thrive with change? This book is also about mistakes ... sometimes we think things are bad, but they aren't. It's just change, and sometimes the best things come from mistakes.
"Christmas looks different in everyone's houses and as a kid I struggled to wrap my head around that, so this book also gives a nod to that."
As for the pink theme, it was inspired by a pink Christmas tree Hennessy had in her house in 2021.
"I started to think, what if all of Christmas was pinkified? How could that happen? How would that happen? What would happen if it was a pink Christmas?," she says.
"I also used to work in the wardrobe department at Opera Australia and would often dye white things pink when I left a red sock in the washing machine from another load. I didn't know the difference between hot and cold washes and what they did. I do now.
"And yes, I am obsessed with colour. I love wearing neons and pink; I think I look strange in beige and black.
"The colour pink is my inspiration colour. I can't tell you why ... but it makes me creative and makes my brain excited. If I move back to Newcastle I will paint my entire office pink. That's my dream, to live in Valentine and have a pink creative room."
Hennessy has a lot of pots on the boil. Originally from Lake Macquarie and a student at Eleebana Public School, she started out as a radio announcer with Southern Cross Austereo at NXFM Newcastle in 2012 and went on to become a social media star, a comedian, a TV personality and an author.
Last year she wrote a play based on her best-selling children's book Drum Roll Please it's Stevie Louise. It premiered at Maitland's Upstage Youth Theatre under the expert eye of Ann Croger, who was Hennessy's drama teacher at Hunter School of the Performing Arts.
"I think I have too many pots on the boil, to be honest! But I don't really know how to not have heaps going on. It's in my DNA," she says.
"I'm writing my first TV show right now and it's so hard, but so rewarding. I love being multi-disciplinary. It's like my secret weapon, because not everyone can do it.
"If I could, I would write books all day. I have an addiction now to kids books, so if people buy them, I'll write them. I love writing, but it's extra amazing to write for kids."
Inspired by the success of her first play (which is still being performed across the country), Hennessy says she would like to do two things.
"I'd like to write a Christmas movie or feature and also write a kids' feature animated film," she says. "I'm obsessed with Shark Tale and Trolls and would love to write a film like that. A family movie that's funny and has heaps of heart.
"And the rights to the Stevie play are out there and anyone can buy it and perform it ... it's cheap [laughs]."
Hennessy is realistic about the prospect of a backlash when Pink Santa is released, revealing she has "already had heaps" of criticism online.
"You know, people just writing to me online 'How dare you, you have ruined Santa' ... 'Why would you do this to Santa? This is disgraceful' and 'Don't mess with kids ... a pink Santa, no thank you'.
"People are wild. They're literally judging a book by its cover. They must think I have a lot of sway to change Santa's global branding ...
"Someone even said 'I won't buy this book because its inclusive'. What? It's so strange. Why wouldn't you want inclusivity?
"At its core, it's a book about laundry! It's also about how some things we think are mistakes are our greatest triumphs and that not all Christmases look the same. But mainly it's about laundry."
