Hazel Edwards

Hazel Edwards (born 1945) is an Australian author who has written 175 books, including the classic children's book, "There's a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake". In 2005 her son, Trevelyan Quest Edwards, who inspired the cake-eating hippo book as a child, rode a bicycle from Ireland to Istanbul, and the pair have co-authored a book on his travels, "Cycling Solo: Ireland to Istanbul", based on his ex-blog.

She was a 2006 National Literacy Champion.

Biography

Melbourne born and based, Hazel Edwards went to Ashburton Primary but due to her father's ill health, the family moved a lot during her secondary schooling. After working in a bank and studying at night, she entered Toorak Teachers' College to train as a secondary teacher. She taught Maths and English at Westall High school and was invited to lecture at Frankston Teachers’ College while studying at Monash University at night. Later she lectured in children’s literature and psychology at Toorak Teachers’ College, and the Institute of Early Childhood Development (Now Melbourne University), then became a freelance author-lecturer after the publication of 'General Store' (1977) and the now classic "There's a Hippopotamus On Our Roof Eating Cake" (1980) which was a recent Australian Government official gift to the Danish Princess and Hazel was on the Victoria College Council of what is now Deakin University.

Hazel married in 1967 to hospital manager Garnet Edwards, they have two children, and a grandson for whom she writes a story each birthday.

Edwards writes fact and fiction across media, for adults and children. She collaborates with psychologists, directors, scientists, puppeteers and illustrators and enjoys quirky and fanciful approaches to learning, participant-observation and experimenting with new media. Recently she has written short adult crime.

Antarctica

As 2001 Australian Antarctic Division writer, awarded the Humanities berth, Hazel travelled to Casey Station, Antarctica on the "Polar Bird". Hazel is involved in a pre-school TV animation series called "Hot Ice Squad" based on Antarctic vehicles. Literary output based on her experience includes "Antarctica's Frozen Chosen" (a young adult eco-thriller), "Antarctic Writer on Ice" (her expedition diary), "Antarctic Dad" (a picture book), "Right or Wrong" (a play co-written with fellow author Goldie Alexander), and "Grandma Leaps the Antarctic" (an Auslan-signed DVD) and "Antarctic Closeup", a National Museum initiative.

Published works

Cake Eating Hippo series

* "There's a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake"
* "Hand Me Down Hippo"
* "My Hippopotamus is on our Caravan Roof Getting Sunburnt"
* "Hey Hippopotamus, Do Babies Eat Cake"
* "Look, There's a Hippopotamus in the Playground Eating Cake"
* "Guess What? There's A Hippopotamus on the Hospital Roof Eating Cake"
* "Our Cake Eating Hippo Plays"

Antarctic related works

* "Antarctic Dad"
* "Antarctica's Frozen Chosen"
* "Antarctic Writer on Ice"
* "Right or Wrong? Plays that make you think"
* "Antarctic Closeup" in 'Making Tracks' series

Other popular works

* "Cycling Solo: Ireland to Istanbul" (2006)
* "Outback Ferals"
* "Fake ID"
* "Stalker"
* "Duty Free"
* "The Giant Traffic Jam"
* "A Hairy Question"
* "Kalo Li's New Country"
* "Writing a Non Boring Family History"
* "Non Boring Travel Writing"
* "The Business of Writing for Young People"
* "Difficult Personalities"
* "Committee-itis"
* "Healthy Women"
* "Simply Events"

Works in collections

* [http://www.canberra.edu.au/lurees Lu Rees Archives (University of Canberra)]
* [http://www.ijb.de Schloss Blutenberg] Munich, Germany. International Youth Library which contains books promoting tolerance including Edwards' titles

Awards

* Metropolitan Fire Brigade Community Award 1990
* 2005 Somerset Ambassador of Literature (Qld)
* 2005-6 Premier’s Reading Challenge Victoria, South Australia and NSW
* 2006 National Literacy and Numeracy Champion
* ABPA Book Design Award 1981 for "There's a Hippopotamus On Our Roof Eating Cake"
* Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) writer 2001 Humanities Berth
* Bronze Medal Book Design Leipzig 1982 for "There's a Hippopotamus On Our Roof Eating Cake"
* Curriculum Innovation Excellence Visual Storytelling Project 2005
* Youth Literature’s Top 150 and in the ABC’s most popular titles of all time

References

* [http://www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=12401 Australian Antarctic Division: Hazel Edwards - Writer]
* [http://www.austlit.edu.au/news/news|Australian National Museum http://www.nma.gov.au/play/making_tracks/#Austlit]
* [http://www.asauthors.org 2002-2007 Australian Society of Authors, Committee of Management portfolios. Education and Children’s Publishing]

External links

* [http://www.hazeledwards.com Hazel Edwards' official homepage]