Hazel Edwards is an Australian author who has written 200 books, including the classic children's book, There's a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary and a short film Pocket Bonfire Productions. Since its publication in 1981, the age-less Hippopotamus on the roof has been reprinted annually, evolved into a series of six picture books and inspired a junior chapter book, classroom play scripts, stage production and a short movie. The Hippopotamus books have also been translated into Braille and Auslan signing for the hearing impaired and were presented as an official Australian Government gift to the children of Princess Mary of Denmark.

Hazel is nominated for the 2012 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award which is the world's largest prize for children's and young adult literature.She is also an Ambassador for the 2012 National Year of Reading and the Premiers' Reading Challenge.
Her most recent book is f2m;the boy within, co-authored with Ryan Kennedy and the latest Hippopotamus book is "Hooray, There's a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Having a Birthday Party".

Biography

Melbourne born and based, Hazel Edwards went to Ashburton Primary. After working in a bank and studying at night, she entered Toorak Teachers' College. She taught Maths and English at Westall High school and was invited to lecture at Frankston Teachers’ College while studying at Monash University

Monash University

Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....

 at night. Later she lectured in children’s literature and psychology at Toorak Teachers’ College, and the Institute of Early Childhood Development (Now Melbourne University), then became a freelance author-lecturer after the publication of 'General Store' (1977) and the now classic There's a Hippopotamus On Our Roof Eating Cake (1980).

Edwards writes fact and fiction across media, for adults and children. She collaborates with psychologists, directors, scientists, puppeteers and illustrators and enjoys quirky and fanciful approaches to learning, participant-observation and experimenting with new media. She has become an e-publisher from her website www.hazeledwards.com specialising in literacy mystery series and performance scripts.

She has written in social issues areas such as transgender in 'f2m:the boy within' and about sociopaths in 'Difficult Personalities.'

2012 National Year of Reading Ambassador and nominee for 2012 ALMA award.

Her books have been translated into Chinese, Korean, French, Indonesian, Polish and Finnish.

Antarctica

As 2001 Australian Antarctic Division

Australian Antarctic Division

The Australian Antarctic Division is an agency of the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities . The division undertakes science programs and research projects to contribute to an understanding of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean...

 writer, awarded the Humanities berth, Hazel travelled to Casey Station

Casey Station

Casey Station is a permanent base in Antarctica managed by the Australian Antarctic Division located on Vincennes Bay in the Australian Antarctic Territory.- History :...

, Antarctica on the Polar Bird

Icebird (ship)

The Icebird is a cargo vessel which delivers supplies to the Australian Antarctic Division bases, principally Macquarie Island, Mawson, Casey and Davis Stations...

. Literary output based on her experience includes Antarctica's Frozen Chosen (a young adult eco-thriller), Antarctic Writer on Ice (her expedition diary), Antarctic Dad (a picture book), Right or Wrong (a play co-written with fellow author Goldie Alexander

Goldie Alexander

Goldie Alexander has published fiction and non-fiction books for adults and children both here and overseas, plus many prizewinning short stories and articles. Her latest how-to-write’ text. for adults is “Mentoring Your Memoir”: She writes for history, crime, science fiction, fantasy and...

), and Grandma Leaps the Antarctic (an Auslan

Auslan

Auslan is the sign language of the Australian deaf community. The term Auslan is an acronym of "Australian sign language", coined by Trevor Johnston in the early 1980s, although the language itself is much older...

-signed DVD) and Antarctic Closeup, a National Museum initiative.

Cake Eating Hippo series

• There's a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake
• "Hooray! There's a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Having a Birthday Party"
• Hand Me Down Hippochapter book
• My Hippopotamus is on our Caravan Roof Getting Sunburnt
• Hey Hippopotamus, Do Babies Eat Cake
• Look, There's a Hippopotamus in the Playground Eating Cake
• Guess What? There's A Hippopotamus on the Hospital Roof Eating Cake
• Our Cake Eating Hippo Plays
• Pocket Bonfire Productions 16 minute film 'There's a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake'

www.pocketbonfire.com

• Chinese translations available from Sichuan Children's Publishing House.
• Audio of Hippo picture books from Bolinda Audio.

Antarctic related works

• Antarctic Dad
• Antarctica's Frozen Chosen
• Antarctic Writer on Ice
• Right or Wrong? Plays that make you think
• Antarctic Closeup in 'Making Tracks' series

Other popular works

• "f2m; the boy within" (Co-authored with Ryan Kennedy)e-book also
• Writing a Non Boring Family History e-book also
• Cycling Solo: Ireland to Istanbul (2006)
• Outback Ferals
• Difficult Personalities Penguin Aust & also The Experiment (USA edition) and Pilish edition (Rebus) Co-authored with psychologist Dr Helen McGrath.
• Fake ID
• Stalker
• Duty Free
• The Giant Traffic Jam
• A Hairy Question
• Kalo Li's New Country
• * Non Boring Travel Writing
• The Business of Writing for Young People
• Simply Events
• Flight of the Bumblebee
• Plato the Platypus Plumber(part-time)
• Duckstar' series (Cyberfarm, Operatic Duck Duck on Tour
• Chopper Rescue editor

e-books series

• Project Spy Kids
• Frequent Flyer Twins

Literacy Performance Scripts
An L of a Difference
The Parts of Speech TV Show

Works in collections

• Lu Rees Archives (University of Canberra)
• Schloss Blutenberg Munich, Germany. International Youth Library which contains books promoting tolerance including Edwards' titles
• ALMA Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (Sweden)

Awards

• 2012 Astrid Lindgren Children's Literature Award nomination
• 2009 ASA Medal (Australian Society of Authors Medal)
• shortlisted for 2009 Alice Award ( Australian Women Writers)
• Premiers' Reading Challenge lists
• Metropolitan Fire Brigade Community Award 1990
• 2005 Somerset Ambassador of Literature (Qld)
• 2005-6 Premier’s Reading Challenge Victoria, South Australia and NSW
• 2006 National Literacy and Numeracy Champion
• ABPA Book Design Award 1981 for There's a Hippopotamus On Our Roof Eating Cake
• Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) writer 2001 Humanities Berth
• 2011 longlisted for Children's Book of the Year ( Hurray! There's a hippopotamus on Our Roof Having a Birthday Party)
• 2011 White Ravens ( for f2m;the boy within)
• Bronze Medal Book Design Leipzig 1982 for There's a Hippopotamus On Our Roof Eating Cake
• Curriculum Innovation Excellence Visual Storytelling Project 2005
• Youth Literature’s Top 150 and in the ABC’s most popular titles of all time

External links

• Hazel Edwards' official homepage