Hazel Edwards OAM
Best known for the picture book classic series There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake1980 which toured nationally as Hippo Hippo the Musical in 2016. Hazel Edwards OAM is an authorpreneur who mentors aspiring creators.
Her memoir Not Just a Piece of Cake; Being an Author explores ‘anecdultery’ as storytelling structure and is on AUDIBLE.
Hazel runs ‘Complete Your Book in a Year’ workshops for PROV (Public Records Office) and participants all finish.
She has two adult children and four grandsons. Her hobby is bellydancing (not in public) and she believes in participant-observation research, even on an Antarctic expedition in 2001.
The National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature issued the detailed ‘A Guide to the Hazel Edwards Papers’ in 2023.
Hazel is adapting her diverse gender celebrant sleuth Quinn for screen. ‘Wed Then Dead on the Ghan’ was commissioned by ABC but not produced yet due to budget issues.
She believes writers should be idea risk-takers, and that creators of intellectual property should be respected as contributing to understanding our own and other cultures.
‘Grief and Loss in Schools’ is her latest resource.
Presenting
19 July 2025 at 12:20:00 am
Wasted? Trying New Subjects and Formats of Stories
Wasted? Trying New Subjects and Formats of Stories - using Hazel Edwards’ YA Wasted? and Go! Go! Gecko as case studies, this session guides writers in developing a pitch package for an innovative or ‘risky’ project that addresses a real need. Participants will explore flexible phrasing suited to multiple formats, such as YA, audio, performance, puppetry, and screen, while learning to craft compelling, human-created content with subtext and flair. Emphasis is placed on writing with purpose and adaptability, allowing ‘pitches' to serve as blurbs, proposals, or program basis. Writers will leave with a step-by-step plan and the confidence to pursue bold, socially relevant 'Pitch Packages' across various formats.
