Barbara Ker Wilson writes . . .
I was born on 24 September 1929 in Sunderland, in the north of England.
In 1964 I immigrated to Australia, living first in Adelaide, then Melbourne, then Sydney. I now live in Leura, in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
As a child I used to accompany my father to a large publishing office in London, to deliver corrected proofs of his latest engineering textbook, and I knew then that I wanted to work in the world of writing and publishing. Or did I mean publishing and writing? I have never been sure which side of my double career should come first.
My first 'successful' work, written when I was eight, was a play based on the coronation of King George VI; it was performed at my primary school in England. Throughout my childhood I wrote poetry, short stories and unfinished 'novels'.
The Second World War influenced me greatly, particularly the experience of living through air raids in London. With the end of the war came my first experience of travelling abroad; ever since, I have travelled extensively in Europe and Asia.
As a writer, my primary interest is to tell a story, and time and again I return to the refreshing vigour of the world's original stories-folktales, the springboard for all fiction.
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