Natasha
Neary

Natasha wanted to be Joan Wilder from the day she fell for Romancing the Stone on the big screen.

She has since penned three novels, one of them a rural crime story shortlisted for HarperCollins' The Banjo Prize.

Her childhood was divided between Perth's beaches and Sweden's forests, leaving her torn between Vegemite and Kalles Kaviar. Raised in the cultural hub of Fremantle — home of Tim Winton, Joan London and Ben Elton — she went on to study journalism and build a career as a daily news journalist, winning three awards along the way.

Her reporting took her from murder trials and family feuds to interviews with politicians, cult leaders and celebrity chefs — from Cherie Blair and Ma Sheela of the Rajneeshis to Guy Sebastian.

In her 20s she decamped to Paris, aspiring to become the next Hemingway — but was generally found guzzling Côtes du Rhône in the Marais, or serving lobster to Brooke Shields at Buddha Bar. She later travelled the world as a Sydney publicist for hotels, working alongside celebrity chefs including Tetsuya, René Redzepi and Albert Roux.

She holds a Masters in Creative Writing from Macquarie University and now lives on Sydney's Northern Beaches, within cooee of other great authors Michael Robotham, Sarah Turnbull and Geraldine Brooks. She finds alphabetising the spice drawer a reliable cure for writer's block.

Natasha is a founding member of @AllWriteClub — a writing group that exchanges work weekly and loves a good malapropism.