Jane Harper

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Countdown with ...

Jane Harper

Jane was born in Manchester in the UK and moved to Australia with her family at the age of eight, where she became an Australian citizen.

Returning to the UK with her family as a teenager, she lived in Hampshire before studying English and History at the University of Kent in Canterbury.

On graduating, she completed a journalism entry qualification and got her first reporting jobs on the Darlington & Stockton Times in County Durham and the Hull Daily Mail in East Yorkshire.

Moving back to Australia in 2008, she later took up a reporting role with the Herald Sun in Melbourne.

In 2014, Jane wrote a short story which was one of 12 chosen for the Big Issue's annual Fiction Edition.

That inspired her to pursue creative writing more seriously, breaking through with her debut Australian mystery novel, The Dry, in 2016. This was followed by Force of Nature and The Lost Man.

Jane lives in Bayside, Melbourne with her husband and daughter.

Interviewed 27 July 2019

Ten words to sum up your working life to date ...

Journalist for 13 years, author for four. Always loved writing!

Nine things you can see from where you're sitting ...

The sea, the Melbourne skyline, the plants I’m trying to grow, photos of my family, bookshelves, my daughter’s toys, a mug of tea, the latest book I’m reading, the TV.

Eight minutes to prepare a meal. What's it going to be ?

In eight minutes, I think it would have to be an omelette!

Seven people you'd like to go for a drink with ...

The wonderful mums at my mothers’ group. We have been friends since our children were born and having a few child-free drinks together is a rare and valued event.

Six things you can't live without ...

My family, my friends, books, mugs of tea, music, swimming in the sea.

Five favourite words ...

Whichever ones help me keep my writing moving forward at that moment!

Four places you'd run away to ...

My parents’ house in the UK, my sister’s flat in London, my brother’s place in New Zealand and, just for a holiday, beautiful Noosa beach in Queensland.

Three books you've bought recently ...

The Hunger Games trilogy. I’ve read them all before several times, but my copies have been borrowed and failed to find their way home.

Two things that make you rant ...

I try really hard not to rant at anything. It rarely makes anything better.

One thing you'd tell your teenage self ...

Enjoy it all while it’s happening. The years go by fast!