Dr Leah Kaminsky

Author, Inspirational Speaker, Social Issues

Leah Kaminsky is a family physician and an award-winning author of eight books.

What other jobs have you had?

I have been a family physician for three decades. I am also the poetry and fiction editor at the Medical Journal of Australia.

What themes are recurring in your work?

I explore themes of health and illness in my writing, as well as the impact of trauma and war on individuals.

What have been the highlights of your career?

I’ve been working on my novel The Waiting Room for many years. The day I was sent an offer of publication I sobbed with joy. That same year I signed contracts for two other books.

What are you passionate about?

I am a strong believer in the power of story and its influence. Through writing and speaking I try to be a voice for the voiceless – humans and animals alike. I also adore being the mother of three children.

Haven’t I seen you before?

I have spoken at major writers’ festivals and conferences internationally, as well as being interviewed on radio many times. I appeared on Australian Story, in an episode that was subsequently developed into a book I co-authored with the incredible Damiani family – Cracking the Code (Vintage). This is now in development for a film.

Anything else you’d like to share with us?

‘The non-fiction stories of Oliver Sacks … as well as potent young doctors such as … Leah Kaminsky … capture the essence and complexity of the clinical world’.

–  Jerome Groopman in The New York Review of Books, 2014