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Christine du Fresne

Christine was born, raised and educated in New Zealand and moved to Sydney in her early twenties. She is an artist and the author of Where Heaven & Earth Meet: a Journey through Central Asia (Lothian Books, 2004).

Christine began travelling at the age of 48 and in 1999 her trip to Central Asia took on another dimension when she decided to film her five-month journey, as well as documenting it in her journal and sketching people she met. With her filmmaker daughter Kylie she created a documentary, Shambhala: a Central Asian Journey that was screened on ABC television.

Travelling alone through remote areas and along parts of the ancient Silk Road she was able to rely on the kindness of the local people and the ancient wisdom of Eastern masters to guide her. Her journey soon became a personal odyssey as she searched for the mythical paradise, Shambhala - the place Buddhists believe heaven and earth meet.

Where Heaven & Earth Meet: A Journey through Central Asia is now out of print but some copies are available from the author. Enquiries re purchase should be directed to Calidris. sallybird@calidrislitagency.com

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Monica Geti

Monica Geti was born and educated in London, where she worked as PA to the Managing Director of a film company at Pinewood Studios. At the age of 21 she met her Italian husband and two weeks later they eloped to Switzerland. They lived in South America, Canada, South Africa and Italy before settling in Sydney.They retired in 1990 when they bought their boat Sunshine, and now divide their time between Europe and Australia.

Monica’s book, The Year of Sunshine (New Holland, 2004)records the story of that first year of their retirement. Her husband wanted to retire and live on a boat in the Mediterranean. She did not. They fought. He won. It was as simple as that. Or was it?

This is a romantic tale of two people discovering a renewed passion for life and for each other during a sun-drenched and turbulent summer in the beautiful ports of the Italian and French rivieras. What began as a tour of duty for Monica would become a voyage of love and understanding, and a summer that would never be forgotten.

Rights Available - World Rights.

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Howard Goldenberg

Howard’s first book, My Father’s Compass (Hybrid Publishers, 2007) is a moving tribute to his father Myer, who was a rare combination of dinkum Aussie and devout Jew.

In this work Howard uses his magical story-telling skills to record and celebrate the long and fruitful life of a man with too many roles: healing the sick, growing olives, sailing the seas, harvesting foreskins, serving synagogues and raising his brood of difficult children.

Through the pages of this book, his son honours the deep faith and vitality of his father, while bringing to life the intimate family relationships across generations between intense fathers and sensitive sons.

It is a memoir poignant, entertaining and at times hilarious – and will evoke tears and laughter, grief and joy. It is a book to be treasured.

“Howard Goldenberg is a fine wordsmith and a wonderful storyteller. He explores his father’s life with great compassion and honesty. His compass has served him well both as a doctor and a writer.” Paul Jennings.

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Anthony Gunn

Is a registered psychologist who specialises in anxiety-related health issues. He had personal experience with phobias when he underwent emergency surgery without anaesthetic in Honduras. This left him with a debilitating fear of medical procedures but through his training he overcame his own phobia and now helps others deal with theirs.
Anthony regularly speaks to sporting and social clubs, schools and institutions about psychology and fear.

He is the author of:
Fear is Power: Turn Your Fears into Success (Hardie Grant, 2006)
Walking Tall: Overcoming Life’s Little Challenges (Hardie Grant, 2008) and
Fix Your Phobia in 90 Minutes (Penguin, 2009)

For more information see www.fearispower.com

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Gill Heming Shadbolt

Gill Heming Shadbolt was born in Sydney, grew up on plantations in New Guinea, and returned to Australia to board at Frensham School in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales during the Second World War. She later worked on newspapers, magazines and public relations in Sydney, London and Wellington in New Zealand where she also lectured in journalism and communication. She is now retired and lives in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Gill’s book New Guinea Engineer: the Memoir of Les Bell MBE – as told to Gill Heming Shadbolt (Rosenberg Publishing, 2002) is World War 11 Royal Australian Air Force Flying Officer Les Bell’s startling account of settlement in northern Queensland, the equatorial coconut and gold empires of German and Australian New Guinea and its island archipelagos. Les Bell was a ham radio operator and served in radar units in the Pacific war.

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Noeline Kyle

NoelineKyle has maintained a strong interest in supporting the research and writing of family historians and published Tracing Family History in Australia (Methuen, 1985); We Should Have Listened to Grandma: Women and Family History (Allen & Unwin, 1988); and The Family History Writing Book (1993, 2001).

Her latest title on this topic is Writing Family History Made Very Easy (Allen & Unwin, 2007).

Family historians are enthusiastic and skilled researchers but the writing task too often defeats them. Most are not trained or confident writers. Noeline’s book Writing Family History Made Very Easy aims to overcome this common writing barrier. It is a comprehensive step-by-step guide that includes easy-to-follow instructions and straightforward advice on the writing process. This book draws on Noeline’s long and productive work with family historians over the last twenty-five years. It is written for family historians but will also be useful for beginning students of history.

Writing Family History Made Very Easy is now available as an eBook.

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Robin Parisotto

Robin Parisotto was the Australian Institute of Sport’s principal researcher in the EPO 2000 Project, which led to the development of the first ever blood tests to be used at an Olympic Games (Sydney) for the blood doping agent known as EPO. He has over twenty years’ experience in blood testing laboratories and has had numerous articles published in scientific journals and magazines.

Robin’s book, Blood Sports – the Inside Dope on Drugs in Sport (Hardie Grant, 2006) is a gripping and provocative insider’s look at the issue of drugs in sport – the deaths, the scandals, the conspiracies, and the on-going race to beat the cheats.

Coincidence or cover-up? Between 1987 and 1990, eighteen professional athletes died. Some while competing, some while sleeping. All from heart failure. Why? The answer was EPO – a lethal new drug designed to increase oxygen – and for which no test was available to detect it.

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Dr Julian Pepperell

His first book, a collection of his magazine articles is entitled Fish Tales: the Mystery of the Snapper Bump & other stories from Australian Waters (Random House, 2001).

The waters that surround Australia are full of weird and wonderful fish: jellyfish that impart stings from the uncomfortable to the lethal; tuna with the head of dolphin; fish that fly, ‘cookie cutters’ that inflict crater-like wounds on their victims. Fish Tales investigates these and many more unusual marine stories.

It is now out of print but copies may be purchased from the author. Email Julian Pepperell – julianp@internode.on.net

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Peter Rowland

Peter is the author of A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Australia (New Holland, 1996), reprinted 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009.

Green Guide to Birds of Australia (New Holland, 1998) which won a Whitely Award and was reprinted 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005 (twice), 2006, & 2008.

He has also written numerous scientific papers and contributed to the following books: Cuckoos, Nightbirds & Kingfishers of Australia, R Strahan (Ed), Angus & Robertson/Australian Museum Trust, 1994

Finches, Bowerbirds & Other Passerines of Australia, R Strahan (Ed), Angus & Robertson/Australian Museum Trust, 1996 and

The Encyclopaedia of Australian Wildlife, L Egerton (Ed), Reader’s Digest, 1997.

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