SHORT BIO
Pippa went to
the University of New South Wales and Mitchell College of Advanced
Education in Bathurst, and trained as an English and History teacher.
She gave that away when a class of fifteen year old boys made farmyard
noises whenever she turned her back to write on the blackboard. Today
she teaches writing to adults who are more willing to learn and she
finds this rewarding and challenging.
Her
tertiary education has been a valuable asset. She has studied English
literature, Modern History and Psychology. She enjoys reading, preferring
books that give her insight into human behaviour, and loves to bury
herself in a library doing research.
Pippa
is a sixth generation Australian. Her mother also enjoyed research and
began writing a television play based on her convict ancestors, called
The Cornstalks. When she died Pippa inherited her mother's work and
vowed that one day she'd complete it. It's been tidied up a bit but
still lies in a bottom drawer.
She also began researching her in-law's stories with the intention of writing a family history.
Things changed dramatically when in
1986 Megan Kalajzich was murdered, and what had started as a family
history project eventually became Doubt & Conviction - her
book about this murder. Being a glutton for research, Pippa discovered
that the deeper you dig, the bigger the hole seems to get. In 1993 when
Justice Slattery began the Inquiry into Andrew Kalajzich's conviction
for the murder of his wife, she took a year off and attended the Inquiry,
sitting at the back of the court with the journalists.
Meanwhile,
in order to gain some credibility as a writer she entered short fiction
and non-fiction stories in literary competitions, and had some successes.
Many of her stories were published in small but good anthologies.She
has won the Society of Women Writers National Short Story competitions
twice, with different judges on each occasion. The first winning story
was published by the State Library of NSW Press in an anthology called No Thanks or Regrets. She has also had an essay published in
Kerry Greenwood's "On Murder 2" published by Black Inc. called
"The Triggerman".
Recently
Pippa has put together an anthology of her short fiction and non fiction
stories called Back Stories. Most of Pippa's short stories focus
on one main character and their back story (or history) is woven into
the narrative.
Pippa
has also been active in many writer's organisations including The Fellowship
of Australian Writers, The NSW Writers Centre, Sisters in Crime in Melbourne,
Partners in Crime in Sydney and the Society of Women Writers. She believes
organisations like these are important to writers, because it can be
a lonely business and there is a need to communicate with and get feedback
from other writers. She has also been involved in judging short story
competitions, including Moocooboola F.A.W., Manly F.A.W. and Macarthur
F.A.W, and more recently the Marjorie Barnard Award and Queen of Crime Short Story Competition for Partners in Crime.When
Pippa lifts her head out of a book or drags herself away from her computer
she enjoys fresh air and salt water, bushwalking, sailing and getting
together with family and friends.
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