"After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world."
- Philip Pullman
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I was born in Adelaide and spent most of my growing up years in Darwin and Sydney. My parents were hotel managers, so we moved around quite a bit. It was exciting living in hotels, all sorts of interesting things happened, and often the people I met and the things I saw found their way into stories (and there are many more tales to tell).
When I was thirteen, I was in Cyclone Tracy, the worst natural disaster Australia has ever seen. The whole city was wiped out overnight and I've written about what it was like to survive a powerful cyclone in my story, 'Don't Worry Brian'.
I've always loved writing stories, but I'm also passionate about literacy and education. For ten years, I was involved in teaching literacy and writing skills, but right now I'm focussing all my energy on my own writing.
I live in the beautiful Blue Mountains with my husband and two large mischievous dogs, three very friendly chickens, lots of snakes and the occasional quoll.
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'Firestorm' Illustrated By Peter Sheehan
'Touchdown', The School Magazine
NSW Department of Education
'The Most Beautiful Thing in the World'
in Charms - Volume One
Odgers, S (ed)
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'Don't Worry Brian' in
Book for Fiji
Odgers, S (ed)
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Awards
'Black Friday'
Shortlisted
CBCA (NSW)
Frustrated Writers' Mentorship Program 2006
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'Granpa Frank'
Commended
FAW (Tasmania) 2006 Nairda Lyne Award
'Cyclone'
Shortlisted
CBCA (NSW)
Frustrated Writers' Mentorship Program 2004
'The Dangerous Journey of Elsbet Johari'
Shortlisted
2nd Prize
2016 Charlotte Duncan Award
Celapene Press
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‘No time for Dreaming’
Shortlisted
CBCA (NSW) Aspiring Writers' Mentorship Program 2013
Sponsored by Random House
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Awards
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'Diana'
2nd Prize
2019 Peter Cowan Short Story Award
Finalist in the 2018 Tasmanian Writers' Prize, the NWF/joanne burns Microlit Award and the 2018 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award
‘The Horse of Old Regret’
Highly Commended
FAW National Literary Awards 2015
Angelo B. Natoli Short Story Award
‘Snap’
Highly Commended
ZineWest 15 Writers’ Competition
‘The Northern Road’
Highly Commended
ZineWest 13 Writers’ Competition
‘Separacja’
Editor’s Choice Award
ZineWest 12 Writers’ Competition
'Central Station 7.03’
3rd Place - Best Prose
ZineWest 11 Writers’ Competition
‘A Fine Balance’
Highly Commended
2007 Cancer Council Victoria Arts Awards
‘Driss and Deidre’
Winner
Verandah/HarperCollins Fiction Prize 2004
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‘Life Support’
Commended
FAW National Literary Awards 2002
The Jennifer Burbidge Short Story Award
'The Limits of Forgetting' in fourW thirty: Pearl'
'How to go with the flow: A Survival Guide' in
Story Cities: A City Guide for the Imagination,
Arachne Press, UK
'The Elephant in the Room' and 'We take our comfort
where we can' in
'The Brough of Birsay' in
Forty South Short Story Anthology 2018
'Here we Are' in Time (Spineless Wonders, 2018)
'Stones' and 'Snap'
performed at Summer Shorts, January 2017
'1988' performed at Little Fictions, October 2016 and
Humans of Parramatta Road, 2017
'Who do you think you are?', 'Lincoln's Rock' ,
'Snap’ , ‘Separacja’ and 'Central Station 7.03' in ZineWest
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‘Life Support’ in FourW 25 – New Writing
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‘Mountain Funeral’ (poem) in ZineWest 14
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‘Mosaic of Loss’ (poem) in As the Smoke Clears
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‘1966’ in Keepsakes Anthology (ed Sally Odgers)
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‘The Northern Road’ (poem) in ZineWest 13
‘Room 301’ in Islet
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‘Driss and Deidre’ in Verandah 19
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‘Innocence is Bliss’ in Newswrite
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‘At the other end of the hour’ in Warrior Women:
Fighting Breast Cancer (UOW Press)
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‘The Poet of Oz’ in Pendulum
‘Living with the Wolf’ in Link Magazine
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‘This (cyclonic) Life’ in The Weekend Australian
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‘The Ankle-biters’ Revenge’ in Berkshire County’s Child
‘Song of Hope’ in Certified Male