A diehard bibliophile, Peta loves all things to do with books and the written word! A passionate reader since an early age, stories showed her glimpses into worlds that excited, challenged and captivated. They also let her dream that one day she could do the same.

Stories that thrill her the most are ones that spring from history, with ideas and inspiration coming from a nugget of fact, gathered from a picture seen, a place visited or a story told. She files these nuggets away in the hope that one day they take on a life of their own.

A few other facts about Peta …

Born in South Africa, emigrating to Australia when she was three.
Has worked in the Book Trade for over thirty years, mainly selling other people’s books.
Loves trees and animals, especially dogs. Old houses and the Outback. Dusty museums and forgotten cemeteries. And mint chocolate.
Ita Buttrose once published an article Peta wrote (about dogs).
Lives on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland with her partner and their two dogs, in a house that’s nearly one hundred years old.

Peta’s previous writing successes include a short story Salt which won 2nd place in the 2005 Alice Springs Short Story Competition and was included in an anthology of Central Australian writing called Milk in the Sky (Ptilotus Press, Nov 2006). She placed third in the Society of Women Writer’s QLD Short Story Competition in 2012 (The Lie) and has received two Highly Commended Awards for short stories, with several others being short and long-listed.

In November 2018, Peta received the Charlotte Waring Barton Award for her unpublished manuscript Sing Us Home, the prize being a mentorship with a HarperCollins author. After development, this manuscript has become The Ship’s Midwife.