Once Upon an ABC

Sophie Masson

Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, of French parents, Sophie Masson came to Australia at the age of 5. All her childhood, the family moved back and forth between Australia and France, unable to make up their minds as to where to live, so Sophie grew up between worlds, and between languages, an experience which has formed a lot of her work. A bilingual French and English speaker, she was educated in schools in both Australia and France, and has a BA and M.Litt in French and English Literature from the University of New England in northern NSW.

Sophie has had more than 50 novels published in Australia and internationally, mostly for young adults and children, but also for adults, including the internationally-selling Forest of Dreams, an adult fantasy trilogy based on the life and work of the medieval French writer Marie de France. Much of her work for children and young adults has also been in the fantasy genre, but she has also written ghost stories, mysteries, thrillers, family stories and a graphic novel (The Secret Army: Operation Loki). She adapted one of her novels, The Green Prince, for the stage and it was performed in a successful season in 2001.

From August 2004 to August 2008 she served on the Literature Board of the Australia Council, the Australian Government's arts-funding body, and in March 2009 she was elected to the committee of management of the Australian Society of Authors, and now serves as its Deputy Chair. She is also the President of the New England and North-West sub branch of the Children's Book Council of NSW, and in 2011 was elected Deputy Chair of the New England Writers' Centre.

Her books have been shortlisted for many awards,with The Hunt for Ned Kelly shortlisted in the Patricia Wrightson Prize for children's fiction in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards(2011), and also being named as a Notable Book by the Children's Book Council of Australia(2011). The Hand of Glory won the Young Adult category for the 2002 Aurealis Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy. Snow, Fire, Sword was shortlisted in three categories in the 2004 Aurealis Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy, including in the Fantasy section, where it was the only children’s book to be listed. In 2008, Thomas Trew and the Island of Ghosts was shortlisted in the children's section of the Aurealis Awards.

In 2010, Sophie was awarded a residency in Paris by the Literature Board of the Australia Council, for six months at the Keesing Studio, which took place from February-end July 2010. Previously, in 1995, she received an Asian-Pacific Fellowship from the Literature Board, which enabled her to travel to Indionesia to research and write her novel, The Tiger (Harper Collins, 1996).

Sophie has also given numerous talks and workshops in Australia, the USA and UK.

Sophie is married with three grown-up children, Philippa, Xavier and Bevis, who all live and work in Sydney. She lives in country New South Wales with her husband David Leach.

To read Sophie’s revealing answers to the Booktopia Book Guru’s TEN TERRIFYING QUESTIONS…and to leave a comment - CLICK HERE