Georgina Penney, author of the upcoming book, 'Fly In, Fly Out', provides us with a snapshot of the FIFO lifestyle and how difficult it can be for women working in remote locations, to find a love … [Read more...]
Alexander McCall Smith talks about his journey as a writer
Much-loved author of the popular series The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Alexander 'Sandy' McCall Smith is currently on tour in Australia to publicise his latest novel, The Forever Girl. I caught … [Read more...]
Lana Penrose ends her Trilogy with another Bad Romance
Australian author Lana Penrose (pictured) has ended her three-part memoir, which began with the best-seller 'To Hellas and Back', on a rather sour note with 'Addicted to Love'. But as the author … [Read more...]
Parental Grief and the Dreaded First Holiday
Many families in our neighborhoods are suffering through their first holiday season without a loved one. Four years ago, I had my first dreadful holiday without my son, Mikey. He ended his own life on … [Read more...]
Former sex worker Annika Cleeve may have faked her memoir Mattress Actress
Author of Mattress Actress, Annika Cleeve (not her real name), claims to be a former sex worker and international call girl who put herself through university. But the math just doesn't add up. This … [Read more...]
Author Karen Tyrrell Talks about her Battle with Bipolar Disorder
Brisbane schoolteacher Karen Tyrrell will never forget that fateful morning in February 2003 when student Allie Broadhurst (not her real name) walked into her classroom with her parents. “I withdrew … [Read more...]
Emerging Australian Women Writers
You don’t have to look far beyond our shores to hear some extraordinary voices. Voices like Kate Forsyth, Anita Heiss, Melina Marchetta, Kate Grenville, Margo Lanagan, Nikki Gemmell, Isobelle … [Read more...]
The Twelve Planets series: promoting women writers and Australian short stories
Since its inception in 2009 boutique publisher Twelfth Planet Press (TPP) has been a strong advocate for local writers working in the speculative fiction genre and of female writers in particular. In … [Read more...]
Intelligent, successful women seduced by Aussie ‘love rat’
Kay Schubach is a brave woman. It can't be easy to publicly admit that you were in love with a man the media has labeled a 'play boy' and a 'love rat'. But Kay is in very good company. In addition … [Read more...]
What’s on your Bucket List? 100 Things with Sebastian Terry
Handsome, smart, adventurous and philothranthopic? Stand back girls, 26-year-old Sebastian Terry is too busy zipping all over our fair planet achieving extraordinary things to stop for a quick … [Read more...]
A Conversation with best-selling Australian author Kate Forsyth
'Write what you know.' It's the often repeated mantra of creative writing teachers the world over, but according to best-selling author Kate Forsyth, it does have its merits: “As writers, we can’t … [Read more...]
How I Surrendered to the Grief of Losing My Husband
On February 4, 2009 I woke up to find that my husband had died in his sleep from an undetected heart condition. He was forty-nine years old. I was thirty-nine. It was the biggest shock of my life. The … [Read more...]
Kim Scott Wins 2011 Miles Franklin Award for ‘That Deadman Dance’
Kim Scott is this year’s winner of the prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award. At the Miles Franklin Award dinner held at the State Library of Victoria last night, the multi-award winning author … [Read more...]
How To Self-Publish a Children's Series and Remain Sane
Interested in self-publishing a children's book? Want to know if it's worth it and if you can remain sane in the process? Well, what do they say about working with animals and children? Toss that … [Read more...]
Battling Childhood Demons with Caroline Overington
Caroline Overington has some stories to tell. Her novels, first Ghost Child and now I Came to Say Goodbye, speak of families struggling and battling their demons, and of children as victims amidst it … [Read more...]
Farm Girl Made Good – author Fleur McDonald
Fleur McDonald is an author with her feet firmly on the land that she loves working with. Beginning her farming career straight out of boarding school, McDonald found herself working one hundred … [Read more...]
Childless NOT by Choice
As a woman who gave birth to her first child at the age of 18, I can't even imagine what it's like to want a child and not be able to have one. In a society that values it's working families, it must … [Read more...]
The Year I Spent in a Muslim Girls School in the Middle East
As a teenager in the 1960s, Ellen Mary Wilton (pictured), spent a year at a Muslim girls boarding school in the ancient Egyptian city of Alexandria. For years Ellen has fascinated audiences with her … [Read more...]
Aussie Mum Behind the International Publishing Sensation – Beautiful Malice
It's a publishing fairytale. Rebecca James made international headlines in 2009 when the manuscript for her book BEAUTIFUL MALIC, ignited a bidding war between several major publishers that would … [Read more...]
It’s an Awesome World with Dallas – WIN!
When American writer Dallas Clayton decided to write a book for his young son, he knew the book’s theme would be on dreaming big. Penning the text in 10 minutes and taking 6 months to complete the … [Read more...]
The Making of Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard is the first woman in our nation's history to become the Deputy Prime Minister and is tipped by many to go all the way to the top job. Highly intelligent, with a strong work ethic, … [Read more...]
Grandmother Turned Children’s Author, Mimi King
When Australian grandmother of eight, Robyn Smith, took on the exotic nom de plume of Mimi King, it wasn’t the only major change in her life. After a lifetime of teaching and reading countless … [Read more...]
In Search of Angels
When her 14 year old niece was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, respected journalist, radio producer and TV researcher, Janise Beaumont (pictured), set off in search of a miracle. What she … [Read more...]
The Butterfly Effect: A New Positive Approach to Raising Happy, Confident Teen Girls
There is something poignant in the title of The Butterfly Effect – a book that gently prises open the cocoon surrounding teenage girls; those delicate creatures caught half-way between a lengthy and … [Read more...]
Children’s Author Ingrid Jonach
Oh, I love a kids’ chapter book that aims so directly at its audience, you can hear the bulls-eye thud of its literary arrow. Talented young Australian author, Ingrid Jonach (pictured), has created a … [Read more...]
Do You Want Sex With That?
Journalist for The Age newspaper in Melbourne, Claire Halliday was asked to write a book on Australian's attitudes to sex. As well as providing a fascinating look inside Australia's sex industry and … [Read more...]
Lisa Williams – Life Among the Dead
Since 2006 Lisa Williams has been hosting her own cable TV show, Life Among the Dead, which airs in Australia on W. On 14th September the popular medium and clairvoyant spoke to me by telephone from … [Read more...]
Children’s Book Review: A Taste for Red by Lewis Harris
“…What happens if your sixth-grade science teacher is also your immortal enemy..?” I must admit, I’m a little bit chicken. Part lioness, part monkey, part chicken. I’ve watched legions of fans devour … [Read more...]
The Real Man’s Tool Box: A DIY Health Manual for Men
Released in time for Fathers Day, The Real Man's Tool Box by Tammy Farrell is the most important book your husband, father, brother, son, or male friend, will read all year. In May 2009, the Senate's … [Read more...]
Beatle Meets Destiny – A book for teens and the teenager in all of us
Beatle Meets Destiny is the first young adult novel from former advertising copy writer and author of Two Canadian Clubs and Dry at the Martini Den, Gabrielle Williams (pictured). Set in Melbourne, … [Read more...]
Book Review: La’s Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith
“…The strutting demagogue, with his insane shouting, had fixed his eyes on them, and he was coming…” This line, in chapter eleven of Alexander McCall Smith’s latest novel, terrified me. Why? Who was … [Read more...]
Children’s Book Review: Cicada Summer by Kate Constable
The dreamlike opening of Cicada Summer was a little painful to read. Having lost my mother far too many years ago, it was a little heartbreaking to realise, within moments of opening this junior … [Read more...]
The Gleefully Exaggerated Gretel Killeen
She's been heavily criticised in the media and vilified by just about every armchair TV critic with access to a mobile phone and a computer. But you won't hear her complaining. In fact you won't … [Read more...]
The Heart and Craft of Romance Writing
Australia's Queen of Romance, Valerie Parv leads an all star line-up of romance writers who have revealed their secrets of success in the new book, Heart and Craft. So you want to write a romance … [Read more...]
Essentially Erica Bauermeister: Master of Edible Fiction
Ah, La Dolce Vita. The sweet life of a successful author. Erica Bauermeister’s first fiction novel, The School of Essential Ingredients, may still be fresh on the shelves but this tantalising novel … [Read more...]
S is for Superhero and B is for Bob McLeod
Popular children's author and comic book illustrator, Bob McLeod, chats with Australian Women Online. Bob McLeod has been doing something super. Something that is the envy of kids and adults … [Read more...]
Book of the Month: Hopetoun Wives by Fran Cusworth
For her second novel, Melbourne based author Fran Cusworth revisited the year she followed her husband to a mining town on the south west coast of Australia. Although a work of fiction, the story of … [Read more...]
Lisa Heidke delivers MummyLit at its best with Lucy Springer
Book of the Month: February 2009 The public's appetite for ChicLit may have peaked somewhere around 2004, but the genre that gave us the flawed but much loved heroine of the 1990's, continues to … [Read more...]
Comedian Denise Scott reflects on her first gig as an author
Denise Scott (pictured) is a well-loved Melbourne based stand-up comedian, actor and radio and TV personality. She has appeared regularly on TV shows such as Full Frontal, The Today Show and The Big … [Read more...]
International Success for Australian Author Kate Morton
KATE MORTON (pictured) made headlines in 2006 when the advance rights sales to her debut novel, The Shifting Fog, published in the UK as The House at Riverton, hit the million-dollar mark. Last month … [Read more...]