Sonia Orchard

Author, Journalist

Sonia Orchard is an award-winning author, survivor advocate, writing teacher, speaker and festival founder and director. She has authored four books: a memoir Something More Wonderful; two adult novels The Virtuoso and Into the Fire, and her most recent memoir Groomed, which follows her journey through the justice system as a complainant in a historical sexual abuse case, coming to terms with the impact of her teenage experience of sexual abuse while parenting teenage girls. She also writes opinion pieces on issues including the environment, parenting and social justice. In 2019, she founded and was the festival director of the Mountain Festival, Australia’s first writers’ festival to focus exclusively on the environment. She has degrees in music, literature, environmental science/marine biology and a PhD in creative writing, and lives on Wurundjeri country, one hour from Naarm/Melbourne, with her family and many pets.

Since the publication of Groomed – part-memoir, part in-depth research into the cultural, social, and even biological factors behind child grooming – Sonia has dedicated herself to justice reform, survivor advocacy and raising awareness around the prevalence and impacts of child grooming. In this capacity, she has appeared on ABC TV breakfast and had a feature in The Age/SMH ‘Good Weekend’.

Topics:

Grooming – awareness, understanding and prevention

Sexual Assault Trauma

Child Protection

Justice Reform

The Victim / Survivor experience

Domestic/family Violence

Writing – creative writing, memoir, novel, opinion pieces

Consent and power

Teenage mental health

Feminism

Parenting

Importance of Community

Motherhood

 

Sonia Orchard is a freelance writer and author with a background in classical music, marine biology, teaching (music and environmental education), cooking and scuba-diving instruction.

Where were you born?

I was born and grew up in Melbourne. In my twenties I took off and travelled through thirty-odd countries and worked in America, Europe, Malaysia, the Bahamas, around Australia, and at sea as well as on land, only to realise that Melbourne’s a pretty darn good place to live.

What other jobs have you had?

As a freelance writer, I’ve written for a range of magazines and publications, including The Age and Lonely Planet.

What have been the highlights of your career?

Something More Wonderful hit third on the bestseller list for biography, and The Virtuoso received The Indie award (Independent Bookseller Association) for best Debut Fiction for 2009.

Anything else you’d like to share with us?

I have a PhD in Creative Writing from RMIT, where I teach in the Professional Writing and Editing Diploma. I live in Melbourne with my hubby, two young daughters and our dog.