Ruth Starke has worked in public relations and travel marketing, and at a great variety of other jobs - of which the most interesting, she says, were selling French perfume in Harrods, cooking on the radio, taking tourists to Kashmir, and interviewing Grand Prix drivers. Ruth turned to fiction writing in 1992, and since then has written over a dozen award-winning and best-selling novels for young people including Aussie Chomps- Catland, Stella by the Sea and Captain Stella. Ruth lives in Adelaide where she teaches English at Flinders University and creative writing at TAFE. She reviews for Viewpoint and Australian Book Review magazines, has been a judge for the National Festival Awards for Children's Literature since 1995, and is deputy chair of the South Australian Writers' Centre. For more information visit- http-//www.ruthstarke.itgo.com/index2.htm