Sarah Halfpenny

She has a name that sounds like it’s straight out of a Bond movie, but it’s really annoying to spell out to people over the phone.

An avid spider avoider, for the past decade Sarah has managed to carve out a productive career as a freelance writer and sub-editor, whilst at the same time staying on high alert for arachnids.

She has worked on Issues 7 and 8 of groundbreaking Australian journal T-world, as well as many arts-related exhibitions, including: Mambo – 30 Years of Shelf-indulgence; NEXT; RISE; Spectrum; Streets Ahead; and TEES.

Sarah has also written and edited copy for advertising campaigns, corporate handbooks, media releases, newsletters, social media platforms, stories and websites, for dozens of clients. Her play Celebrity is the New Bleak was performed at the Victorian Arts Centre as part of a ‘Short + Sweet’ festival, and one of her stories was turned into a short film called No Returns by a group of talented friends.

Thanks to her three much-loved daughters, Sarah has spent almost 12 years volunteering as a sleep deprivation participant in a study conducted by the University of Life (Parenting Department).

She’s a skilled wearer of glasses, is extremely proficient in Mario Kart on Nintendo Wii, and is quite experienced at ordering pizza from the local pizza shop.

Her interests include extreme ironing and alphabetising her book collection by author’s surname. (Just kidding! She doesn’t own any garments that require ironing!)

Sarah is 45% not responsible for the xylophone that dropped from the top of a flight of stairs at school when she was in Grade 5 (*eyes swivel in direction of Rebecca G.*)

When she’s not writing, she’s reading, and can often be found lurking around literary and film festivals, soaking up the creativity.

Sarah is proud to live by the mantra, ‘You can only be young once, but you can always be immature’.