Welcome. My name is Dr Helen Edwards. I'm an Australian children's and YA author, represented by Debbie Golvan at Golvan Arts Management.
I currently have a number of manuscripts out on submissions and am working on an historical fiction for middle-grade which is supported by a grant from Arts South Australia.
I'm an award-winning blogger and writer, with a focus on the environment, nature, sustainable living, health and mental health.
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I'm Mama to 3 beautiful sons and live in Adelaide with my family. I've been blogging since 2001 and have written literally thousands of blog posts. I've also written for numerous print and digital magazines, journals, academic conferences, blogs and websites.
I've lived with type 1 diabetes since 1979 and anxiety and ADHD for much of my life, both diagnosed in adulthood. I also suffered with depression in the past - the worst after experiencing PTSD following threats to my life in my job as a social worker. It was a very difficult period of my life, but I managed to recover and learn a lot about myself and how to navigate the world.
I've been reading and writing since I was tiny and most of my spare time as a child was spent with my head buried in a book. When I was in grade 1, the teachers sent me to the library to choose my own readers, because I had already read the entire suite of junior readers!
I won an award for a book I'd written when I was 6 years old, during Children's Book Week. It still takes pride of place and even has my scrawly 6 year old handwriting in the front Published by Helen Wilde, Written by Helen Wilde (my maiden name). The book on the left was my prize!
Later, after my family moved to a different town, my parents taught at the area school I attended. In the holidays the most magical part was being allowed to roam the library and select an enormous box of books for the break. I would read the back of a cereal pack at the breakfast table if there was nothing else nearby!
My passion for words, pictures, creativity, nature and people, has led me through a life that has centred around stories. I like to include my knowledge about people, and my passion for nature, in my stories.
I DO NOT like large spiders. Just in case you were thinking of showing me any of those - small ones and those non-spider spiders are ok (like Daddy Long Legs). I do however LOVE whales, please share them a lot with me. And elephants, and horses, and birds, and pretty much all of nature.
I founded an online counselling service for people with diabetes in 2001, well before there was any social media. It was groundbreaking and I won many awards and grants. I was an Australian of the Year state finalist and a Telstra Business Woman of the Year state finalist in 2016 for my charitable work and you can see the archived site here.
In 2013 I started The Sustainable Home Hub (then Recycled Interiors) as an outlet for my interest in design, decoration, the arts and our planet. It took off quickly and I gathered more than 120,000 followers on social media. My sustainable blog posts are now housed here on my writing site.
I grew up in rural towns in South Australia with my baby sister and bohemian parents, who taught me the value of people and planet. Both are incredibly clever and creative themselves. They filled me up with the arts, nature and sciences - music, art, literature, dance, the sky, the stars, trees, camping, roadtrips, animals, Harry Butler, The Goons, Monty Python and David Attenborough, were all part of my life. Camping in tents, climbing mountains, swimming in creeks and the ocean and walking in the rain through forests were experienced aplenty.
Most importantly, my parents taught me to see - to notice the world and all of the small, magical moments. To notice people who are different to me and to respect and celebrate diversity. To stand up and fight for what matters and what is right. To be thoughtful, to be kind.
I want our children to know that they matter. I want them to see themselves in the stories they read, the big stories and the quiet ones, and to be left holding onto hope. Because hope is everything and it's stories that will change the world.
Helen
xx
