Maree Giles

Maree Giles is an Australian novelist and creative writing tutor who has lived in Britain for thirty years. She has more than 35 years experience as a writer and studied journalism at the Wellington Polytechnic, New Zealand. She has written for a variety of publications including SHE, Parents, Woman’s Day, Bucks Free Press and Visnews (Reuters). In 1997 she won the SHE/Arvon Foundation Short Story Competition for Trouble, and was highly commended in the Ian St James Awards for Smotherlove. Her debut semi-autobiographical novel Invisible Thread (2001), is set in Australia’s notorious Parramatta Girls’ Training School, and was followed by Under The Green Moon (2003), described by The Irish Times as “an Australian version of To Kill a Mockingbird“. Her most controversial novel, The Past Is A Secret Country (2005) also explores Australia’s dark history. Maree teaches creative writing at Esher College, Surrey, and runs creative writing workshops in Australia and Europe. A new venture is mentoring new writers towards publication. She has taught journalism in London colleges, and given many talks about her work and life. She has worked on two further novels, a collection of short stories, a photo-prose collection about ageing, and adapting Invisible Thread for the screen. She has two children and lives in London with her partner and daughter.