Elizabeth Honey

Where were you born?

I grew up on a farm in the bush near Wonthaggi, Victoria, where my sister and I did a lot of pretending, on horses or tractors, in dress-ups or with glove puppets, round old trucks, cubbies, dams and hay sheds. Also I looked after the chooks.

What other jobs have you had?

My patchwork career includes time as a drink waitress, gramophone operator, feature film continuity girl, knitwear saleswoman, advertising art director, planner of family holidays and reader-aloud of picture books.

What have been the highlights of your career?

The extraordinary schools I’ve visited and the passionate open-hearted teachers, the fun of working with editors Rosalind Price and Sue Flockhart, (a good editor is like the best teacher you could ever have), collaborating on a picture book with musician-composer Sue Johnson, and a novel with author-translator Heike Brandt. A quiet highlight – a mother confiding, ‘He learnt to read with that poem.’

What are you passionate about?

Preserving our wild places and parkland, which are essential for giving kids the outdoors, freedom, time, space and responsibility to test themselves and grow up. Riding bikes, another kind of freedom. Melbourne’s perfect for bikes. It could be the Amsterdam of the south, bike-wise.