About Us - Word Studio

Richard McRoberts

Richard McRoberts (director)
B.A. (Monash), M.Ed. (Melbourne)

Richard has been in the publishing industry for 40 years.

He started writing professionally in 1980. His first textbook, for Macmillan Education, was Writing Workshop. It was a best seller, with final sales of over 80,000 copies.

This was followed over the next few years by a string of books – Practical Comprehension, The Spoken Word, Media Workshop, Integrated English, English Skills and many more (12 in total).

Also in the 80s, he wrote a series of children’s books for the then Edward Arnold company: Tales from the Diggings (set in the gold rush period), Riverboat Yarns (set in the 1890s) and Mates and Heroes (set in the period of the Great War). The books, though fiction, were based on accurate historical research, and featured child models acting out the story. These books sold well and continue to be read throughout the country.

In the early 90s, Richard began writing specifically for the new VCE English course. The ‘Catbuster’ series, begun in 1993, went on finally to be a whole range of books for VCE English assessment, and lasted until the late 90s.

In 1992, he founded a publishing company of his own – Wizard Books. This specialized in highly researched study guides for the English course. The list began with just four books, but by the time Wizard Books was sold, it included some 130 titles.

Wizard Books also published a range of range of classroom resources, plays and other educational materials – another 100 plus titles.

Wizard Books was acquired by Cambridge University Press (2002) and then by Curriculum Corporation (2003).

Richard went on as a publisher for CUP. There he was in charge of the Wizard Books range, which became CUP ‘Wizard Student Guides’.

He was also responsible for a number of mainstream English textbooks, such as Essential English Skills – a best selling range of books. By the time he left in 2006, he had published another 51 books.

In 2002, he created a new online literacy site, Ziptales. It offers reading and writing to all ages of the primary school. Ziptales went on to be sold in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, South Africa, Ireland and the USA. Ziptales was sold in 2020 to American IT company Vantage Labs.

In addition to his educational writing, Richard has also written several novels and a non-fiction ‘ghostwriting’ text.

He is expert at the whole publishing process: manuscripts, editing, curating of art or photos, management of design and layout, preparation for press, and fulfilment.

Valerie McRoberts

Valerie McRoberts

B.A. (Hons, Monash), M.Ed. (Melbourne)

Valerie has worked as a teacher and writer over many years.

Her Honours degree was in English Literature, and her thesis on the poetry of D H Lawrence. She has been an English and Literature teacher over many years, as well as an English examiner.

After leaving teaching, she worked in publishing, first for Wizard Books, and then Curriculum Corporation, where she was the commissioning editor for a range of educational publications. She was the curriculum coordinator and systems manager for Ziptales, the first online literacy website established in Australia.

Her special interest is nineteenth century literature. She has read all of Dickens, Austen, Zola and Elliot. However, she is well versed in modern literature, including Booker and Pulitzer prize winners. She is passionate about reading.

Valerie has a deep understanding of literature and writing, honed over many years of teaching and reading. She is the ideal person to evaluate a manuscript and suggest changes and improvements.

Jane Caughey

Jane Caughey
B.A. (ACE), M.Ed. (ACE)

Jane is an experienced teacher and writer. She has been writing educational materials since the early 2000s. She wrote a number of books for

Wizard Books and then Curriculum Corporation, which were sold throughout Australia.

She agreed to be the primary consultant for Ziptales in 2005, and had a great deal to do with the full development of the website. The Ziptales reading scheme and the complete curriculum alignment of the content were Jane’s doing.

She is also the author of a number of stories on Ziptales. She was responsible for the highly regarded webinars offered to teachers between 2015 and 2018.

She is currently doing her Masters in Education.

Jane is a talented and meticulous writer, with a capacity for deep research and analysis.

Sonya Stoneman

Sonya Stoneman
B.A. (Melbourne)

Sonya is a retired teacher. She is the author of a number of texts, for Wizard Books and Cambridge University Press – including the best selling Essential English Skills range.

Her guide to ‘catch up’ phonics, First Aid in Reading, was widely sold throughout Australia and even overseas.

Her contributions to educational writing include many stories as well.

Sonya has wide ranging skills, from traditional exposition through to entertaining fiction