I am a poet, short story writer and essayist. I was born and
educated in Toowoomba, Queensland. I married Reinhard Hildebrand and
moved with him to Hamburg, Germany andI lived and worked in Europe for three
years, also travelling in Europe and Asia before returning to Australia. I
then studied at the Toowoomba Technical College, going to evening classes
before gaining admission to the University of Queensland. I graduated
Bachelor of Arts in 1987 with majors in both German and English literature. In
1993 I graduated Master of Letters (German) from the University of New
England. My first published short story, Nothing Ever Happens, appeared in
Woman’s Day in 1981 and Downs Images in 1982 and I have since been
widely published in journals, magazines and anthologies in Australia as well as
Britain and the USA. My poems have appeared in Coppertales, Iodine Poetry
Journal USA, Poetrix, Harvester and Squidink. My short stories have appeared
in Downs Images, Woman’s Day, Shortz, First Edition Magazine, Tirra Lirra and
Four W Seventeen. An essay on John Howard, Ordinary Australians, was
published in Overland in 2003.

 

In 1998 I won the University of Southern Queensland Library Poetry Prize and
in 1999 the Fellowship of Australian Writers’ Marjorie Barnard Short Story Award.
In 2002 I began contributing to Radio National’s Bush Telegraph program.
Many of my short stories have been broadcast by Queensland Storyteller on
Radio 4RPH and by Words and Music on Radio 91.3 FM. I am the author of nine books.

My Radio National pieces and my film reviews and essays were collected for my book,

The Past is Another Country: Viewpoints, Essays & Reviews published in 2003. I have also
explored growing to adulthood, living in Europe and returning to Australia in the
years 1951-1975 in my memoir Beautiful Life. In 2004 I co-wrote, with John
Boshammer, Boshy and Me - a biography of his Rugby legend father, Kev
Boshammer. A poetry collection, The Sweet Time, was published in 2006. My
most recent book, The Blind Colossus, was published by Ginninderra Press in
2015. A short story collection, To Breathe and Other Stories' was published by

Ginninderra Press in 2016. My next book, Underclass/Overclasss Essays on Oppression,

is a work in progress.  In 2015 I was elected president of the Fellowship of Australian

Writers Queensland. 'A Simple Twist of Fate' was published by Ginninderra in 2020.

My first novel The Darkened Room was published by Ginninderra Press in 2022. 'Broken 

Dolls' a poetry collection, was published by Tangerine Books in 2024.