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About me
The wonderful thing about reaching a certain age (at the time of writing this, I am forty-nine for the first time) is that I have a rich past full of interesting events. How much do I admit to here? As little as possible. Or maybe just the impressive bits.
I currently live in Canberra, Australia. So many people ask what I do. Sometimes I say that I'm a writer. Sometimes I say that I'm a food historian or a Medievalist. Sometimes I say that I edit. Sometimes I say that I teach. All these are true. I also advise writers about historical subjects, people in the food industry about food history matters and various other people about various other things. In 2010 those 'other people' include the guides at the Jewish Museum of Australia (on Jewish food history); writers on world-building and on the Middle Ages, on cultural matters and on punctuation; a farmer on the serious subject of peacocks; the Jane Austen Festival on dinner parties; a community group on writing reviews; and…that's probably enough. This was a quiet year, too.
I have a doctorate in history and an MA in Medieval Studies and am in the process of driving everyone around me mad by doing a second doctorate. While I like to claim that this second doctorate is purely for cosmetic purposes (so that people can make puns about my name, for instance) it's actually a change in career. While I'm still a practising historian, the writing and editing and the teaching of writing and its various tools are the centre of my life.
My writing credits include fifteen published short stories, two published novels and about 300 pieces of non-fiction. I've also edited an anthology and co-edited another.
I've had help with the writing. I was given a Macquarie Bank Longlines Fellowship to write at Varuna in February 2006 and a Blue Mountains Fellowship to return there in July. ArtsACT gave me a travel grant in 2006 to go to Brisbane to teach a workshop and attend Conjure, a science fiction convention. Everything else was a very long time ago, and possibly better forgotten.
I've also had a bit of recognition. I was a Guest of Honour at Conflux (Canberra Science Fiction Convention) in 2008 and my novel, Life Through Cellophane, was shortlisted for a Ditmar in 2010. I've been a guest at several of the Sydney Freecons, as well. I have been a panellist at a range of events, from Sydney's Magic Casements festival and the Canberra Literary Festival to a range of science fiction conventions. In 2005 I was a guest at the online Oracle Think.com Writers' Festival. I was a judge (Young Adult Division) for the 2006 and 2007 Aurealis awards. I also review, I blog, I write articles. I suspect I might be easily bored.
My past teaching experience has included a wide variety of history, communications skills, cultural studies, diversity skills, and Australian culture courses to government departments and to the private sector. I have run workshops in communications skills, personal development, teamwork and cross-cultural communications for community organisations such as the National Council of Jewish Women and Folk Dance Canberra. Additionally, I have presented workshops and provided skills development for the National Council of Jewish Women in Canberra, Perth, the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne. Oh, and I was a public servant for ten years. I worked on policy and on workplace change issues such as the Office Structures Implementation Taskforce, the Karpin Secretariat (management skills task force) and on access and equity issues in employment, education and training. I also worked on agriculture and, for a little, on intentional trade negotiations. Yes, I really do think I get bored easily.
I could demonstrate my low boredom threshold by listing the committees I've worked on. Two pages on, and you'd be fast asleep. Some of my favourites from my deep and dark past are: the Australian NGO Working Group, UN World Conference Against Racism; the Ministerial Advisory Council on Women, ACT; National Committee, Women’s History Month, Australia 2000-2004 (in fact, I was one of the founders of Women's History Month in Australia) and Status of Women Chair, National Council of Jewish Women of Australia (1991-1999). I am a reformed creature now and the only committees I'm on are science fictional in nature.
I'm currently working on that second doctorate (and its time travel novel), as well as on a cookbook. The cookbook is rather special. It's the cookbook of the banquets that have been held as part of Conflux these last few years. I researched, and - with the help of many friends - tested recipes and designed historical menus for Conflux attendees. Our last one will be in 2011, which is when the cookbook will be released.
This is not the whole of me. It's enough, though, for a potted introduction. If you crave more, there are a few interviews out there that might help:
Women in Horror Month interview (by Elizabeth Fitzgerald) Kaaron Warren interviews a group of us about the subject of the anthology, Baggage Trivium Publishing - author interview Copperfield Review, Wendy J Dunn interviews Gillian Polack
You also might want to read my life story , written several years ago and definitely in need of updating. Or you might not.
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