Louise Williams has been writing stories since she was six, although her first-grade teacher chided her for persisting with long rambling tales when a few short sentences would do. Many decades later she remains grateful she has managed to spend her entire adult life working with words, in one way or another. Her latest book, A True Story of the Great Escape, is the realisation of a lifelong goal to finally tell the remarkable story she grew up with, that of her Dad's eldest brother, WW2 Squadron Leader John 'Willy' Williams. Her upcoming book, Quitting Plastic, with daughters, Clara and Elowyn (illustrator), was sparked by the family’s efforts to reduce the plastic in their lives.

 

Louise's professional writing career began in journalism in Australia. As a teenager she harangued the local newspaper editor until she was allowed to report rather clumsily on local events. She then found a part time sports reporting job while at university. By the age of 24, Louise was a foreign correspondent. She spent more than a decade covering the drama of geopolitics across Asia by looking as closely as she could at the news to reveal its human dimensions. She won a Walkley Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Citibank Pan Asia Journalism Award (in conjunction with Columbia University) and an Australia Council Writers fellowship – and wrote two books -- before returning to Australia as an editor then leader writer. 

Louise is currently a Sydney-based professional writer, editor and consultant for the research, higher education, government and not for profit sectors. She is lucky enough to overlook the bush from her home office, where the local lorikeets, king parrots, eastern rosellas, cockatoos and magpies adorn the gum trees.