Biography

Biography

AWARDS AND HONORS

Represented Western Australia at the Australian National Playwrights’ Conference in Canberra

Writer-in-Residence, Hampden High School, Perth, Western Austsralia

Senior Writing Fellowship, Literature Board of the Australia Council

Western Australian delegate to the inaugural National Screenwriters’ Conference, Melbourne

Playwright in Residence at the National Theatre, Perth

Won Western Australia's 150th anniversary playwriting competition with The Price of Pearls

Awarded best novel of the year for Praise the Egg

EDUCATION

M.A. History, Cambridge University, England

B.A. (Honors) History, Cambridge University, ( Girton College) England

A and S levels in History, English, Latin and Art, Godolphin School, Salisbury, England

EMPLOYMENT

Since 1987, in the USA:

1991. Married Stan Shepherd, 1997, We adopted Ulicia's daughter, Nina.

1987-2001 worked as a professor and administrator at The Pennsylvania State University:

Associate Professor, taught playwriting, screenwriting and feature journalism at the undergraduate and graduate level

University Fulbright Program Adviser

Academic Officer, Education Abroad Programs

Director, Undergraduate Fellowships Office. Recruited Penn State’s first two Rhodes Scholars and many Fulbright Scholars.

1991, Awarded a Dow Creative Fellowship in Midland Michigan. Wrote plays and prose in my spare time.

Before 1987. in Australia:

Worked as a freelance playwright, screenwriter and journalist

Play assessor for the Australian National Playwrights’ Conference ( Canberra)

Script assessor for the West Australian Film Council

Public relations officer, Festival of Perth

Freelance playwright and screenwriter, supported by grants from the West Australian Film Council, the Australian Film Council and the Australian Literature Board.Freelance journalist, contributing to The Times (London), The Sunday Times (London), The Sydney Morning Herald, The Canberra Times, The National Times (Australia), The West Australian, The Western Mail (Perth), The Sunday Times (Perth), The New Zealand Herald, etc.

Before 1971, in England:

Trained as a journalist on The Times Educational Supplement (London)

General reporting and sub-editing. Special subjects: sport, educational technology, social issues, the arts and religious education.

1964 Married Ulick Gage. Lived in Hampstead & Greenwich. Traveled overland to Australia with our children, Ulicia and Marius.