north east regional extra | 2 - 8 may, 2018
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2 - 9 may 2018
◆ NEW LITERARY VOICE: Eleni Hale has come a long way since her days as a print journalism cadet.
by KYLIE WILSON FROM earning her stripes as a newspaper cadet over a decade ago, to publishing her debut novel, Stone Girl, this year, Eleni Hale has made her mark on the literary world. Two years of her early career were spent working at North East Media, with stints at the Wangaratta Chronicle and Mansfield Courier during 2007-8 before she moved on to writing on social and consumer affairs for the Herald Sun and numerous other jobs. She said she still remembers her early days as a writer. “I remember wanting to be a journalist, and packing up my dog,” she said of making her home in the North East. She said her time as a regional newspaper cadet “taught me a lot about reporting; writing not just about a community, but for a community.” But news stories were not the only thing she was penning at the time – Eleni was busy writing what would become the first draft of Stone Girl in whatever spare hours she could find. Stone Girl tells a harrowing tale of survival and hope with troubled 12 year old ward of the state, Sophie, at its centre.
Building a fictional world
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