Helen Garner was born in Geelong in 1942. She has published many works of fiction including Monkey Grip, Cosmo Cosmolino and The Children's Bach. Her fiction has won numerous awards. She is also one of Australia's most respected non-fiction writers, and received a Walkley Award for journalism in 1993. Her most recent books are The First Stone, True Stories, My Hard Heart, The Feel of Stone and Joe Cinque's Consolation. In 2006 she won the Melbourne Prize for Literature. She lives in Melbourne. Praise for Helen Garner's work 'Helen Garner is an extraordinarily good writer. There is not a paragraph, let alone a page, where she does not compel your attention.' Bulletin 'She is outstanding in the accuracy of her observations, the intensity of passion...her radar-sure humour.' Washington Post 'Garner has always had a mimic's ear for dialogue and an eye for unconscious symbolism, the clothes and gestures with which we give ourselves away.' Peter Craven, Australian 'Helen Garner writes the best sentences in Australia.' Ed Campion, Bulletin