Helen Edwards
Dr Helen Edwards is an Adelaide-based children’s author who weaves diverse stories of nature, magic and history. Helen’s debut middle-grade novel, The Rebels of Mount Buffalo was published in October 2023, by the award-winning Riveted Press, distributed by Simon and Schuster. It’s a captivating time-slip tale in which a girl lost to grief meets a daring rebel on a misty mountain who guides her to rediscover her courage and find her way home. In Feb 2024, The Rebels of Mount Buffalo was longlisted in the inaugural DANZ Children’s Book Award for books which feature diversity in all forms. In June 2024, it was shortlisted in the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards.
Helen’s second novel, Legend of the Lighthouse Moon, will be published on 2nd October 2024 by Riveted Press. It’s a magical historical story for middle-grade, set in an island lighthouse, in which a girl who's lost her way seeks solace in sea lions and uncovers secrets about her family’s past that help shine a light towards her becoming comfortable in her own skin. Set on Kangaroo Island in 1970, with a main character living with type 1 diabetes, it features the history of the Cape Willoughby lighthouse and the endangered sea lion colony, as well as drawing on legends from the islands where Helen’s grandmothers were born in the Irish Sea. Her third novel, a WWII story set in Australia, will release in April 2025 with Riveted Press and her fourth, co-written with Award-winning author Kate Gordon, in August 2025.
Helen has a PhD in Psychology and a background working in mental health. She writes stories that reduce stereotypes and increase understanding of diversity, including characters who live with chronic illness, mental illness, and/or who are neurodivergent. Helen has lived with type 1 diabetes since 1979. She also lives with anxiety and ADHD, both diagnosed in adulthood, as well as a number of other chronic conditions. Helen has been blogging since 2001, after founding an award-winning online counselling service for people with diabetes, which she ran for 16 years. Over 90,000 people follow her across social media, where her platforms share book reviews and inspire action for people and planet, with kindness and hope, focusing on our children's future.
Helen has won a number of awards, including being a South Australian State Finalist for Australian of the Year for her work in diabetes. She was winner of the ZestFest writing competition, a special mention in the inaugural Deep Creek Fellowship, and short-listed in the inaugural SA Literary Fellowship. Helen is an experienced speaker and has presented talks and workshops locally and internationally across a wide range of topics. She has a Working with Children Check in SA. She is a member of Writers’ Vic, Writers’ SA, Qld Writers Centre, Women’s Society of Writers Victoria, ASA, CBCA and SCBWI. She is on the SA committee for the CBCA. She is part of the Author Pen Pals initiative and an Ambassador for Australia Reads and a Role Model with Books in Homes. She is passionate about inspiring action for our beautiful, fragile planet and nature features in all her books. She finds history fascinating and uncovers stories that may have been forgotten, or hidden, and brings them into the light. If you're looking for a children's author who speaks from the heart, who laughs loud and loves deep, who is passionate about people and planet, and who understands we come in a glorious rainbow of human beings, Helen is your person. See more about Helen at her website www.helenedwardswrites.com and follow her across social media @drhelenedwardswrites
Published Titles
Legend of the Lighthouse Moon, Riveted Press, 2024
The Rebels of Mount Buffalo, Riveted Press, 2023
Speech Pathology Book of the Year shortlist