Charlotte Wood

Wood was born in Cooma, New South Wales. She is the author of five novels--Pieces of a Girl (1999), The Submerged Cathedral (2004), The Children (2007), Animal People (2011), and The Natural Way of Things (2015). She has also written a collection of interviews with Australian writers, The Writer's Room (2016), a collection of personal reflections on cooking, Love & Hunger (2012). She was also editor of an anthology of writing about siblings, Brothers & Sisters (2009). Her books have been critically well received and frequently mentioned in prize lists. In 2016 The Natural Way of Things won the Stella Prize, the Indie Book Awards Novel of the Year and Book of the Year, and was short-listed for various other prizes including the Miles Franklin. Animal People was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards in 2013 and longlisted for the 2012 Miles Franklin Award. She has a background in journalism and has also taught writing at a variety of levels. In 2014 she was appointed Chair of Arts Practice, Literature, at the Australia Council for the Arts - a three year appointment cut short by budget restrictions to one year. She currently lives in Sydney. She has a PhD from the University of New South Wales; previous degrees are a Master of Creative Arts from UTS and a BA from Charles Sturt University. In May 2016, it was announced that Wood won the Writer in Residence Fellowship at the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre. As an Honorary Associate, Wood has been working with health specialists to offer literary views on the complex topic of ageing. Bringing together award winning novelists and world leading researchers at the Charles Perkins Centre has been a "game changer".