CHARLOTTE CALDER

Charlotte Calder was born in Adelaide, and grew up in the Adelaide Hills and Darwin, the setting for her first novel, Settling Storms. In past lives she has worked, among other things, as a photographer and an actor. (The creative process used in acting is very similar to that used in writing fiction – namely getting into an exact moment, and also into the skin of a character.) She lives with her husband and the youngest of their three children near Orange in the Central West of NSW, where they are among the few residents of their neighbourhood who don't have a vineyard!

Charlotte's subsequent YA novels include Cupid Painted Blind, a blend of teen romance, the internet and Shakerspeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Surviving Amber. The latter deals with the clash of culture and personalities when two wildly different cousins are forced to live together, and is set on Kangaroo Island, where she spent nearly every summer holiday for the first thirty five years of her life.

Her latest novel is Paper Alice, published in 2008. First year uni student Alice McBean opens the newspaper to find a photo of herself – except it isn't her. Just who and where is this double? More importantly, if she does find her mysterious doppelganger, will Alice learn more than she is willing to know?

Charlotte's first picture book, Stuck! (illustrated by Mark Jackson), is to be published in September 2009.

Charlotte enjoys giving talks and workshops to children of all ages, and also to adults.

More information, teachers notes, etc can be obtained from her website at www.charlottecalder.com, and from the Pan Macmillan website

SOME REVIEWS:
Agnes Nieuwenhuizen: A beautifully assured, engaging first novel – delightful and absorbing. (Settling Storms)

Magpies: Calder manages her cast of characters with a deft hand and an eye for the vagaries of young people of the cusp of adulthood. (Surviving Amber)

Reading Time: Calder has, with a keen ear for contemporary teenage language, tapped into the heartaches, embarrassments and anxieties of adolescent relationships ... a satisfying and fast-paced read. (Cupid Painted Blind)

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