Oliver Phommavanh earned praise and renown for penning children's fiction works such as Thai-riffic!, What About Thao? and The Other Christy.
It was a reputation the 42-year-old used as a ruse to lure girls as young as 11 into sexual discussions over four years, the NSW District Court was told on Friday.
The Thai-Australian author was jailed for six-and-a-half years after admitting to grooming three girls for sexual activity during lengthy conversations on social media between 2020 and 2024.
He had met the children when he travelled to their schools to give presentations about his books and offer writing workshops, the court was told.
The messages to each of the girls started out innocently enough but soon became sexual, with Phommavanh posing graphic questions under the guise of discussing his book characters.
The writer sent a series of explicit stories to one schoolgirl under the pretence of seeking her feedback on the accuracy of the stories from a young person's point of view, the agreed facts state.
"The offender was an author of some fame and he relied on that fame not only for his access but to continue to manipulate (the victims)," Judge Peter Krisenthal said.
"His actions were, in my view, clearly predatory."
Phommavanh told one of the victims - who had expressed a desire to become a writer - that she had a "kissable face" when she was 13 or 14 years old, the court was told.
He exchanged more than 5500 messages with her, the facts reveal, while telling another victim he had fantasised about her from a young age but wouldn't act on it because it would ruin their friendship.
The writer was arrested in May 2024 after he engaged in a sexual act during a video call with an undercover police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl.
Judge Krisenthal slammed his offending as manipulative and persistent, declaring that a strong message needed to be sent to the community.
But he accepted Phommavanh had shown remorse for his actions and their impact on his victims and had since engaged in specific treatment.
The author remained expressionless as he was sentenced to a minimum of four years behind bars.
He has suffered a dramatic fall from grace after previously featuring on writer's week panels, podcasts and in an anthology alongside the country's best talents.
Phommavanh's 2010 novel Thai-Riffic! was short-listed for the Young Australian Best Book Awards and was one of two of his titles inducted into the hall of fame for the NSW-based children's choice Koala awards in 2015.
A reference to the books appears to have been removed from the Koala website in recent months.
The Other Christy and What About Thao? were both long-listed for the prestigious Children's Book Council of Australia awards.
His books have since been quietly removed from the website of his publisher, Penguin Random House, who did not respond to requests for comment.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
Lifeline 13 11 14
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)
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