Mishka the Writer

5/06/11

Background:

I firmly believe that the life of the mind must be balanced with active engagement in the world, so writing has been and always will be a part-time pursuit for me. Currently, I spend the bulk of my time ministering to the domestic needs of my family – I have three children under five – and in the course of the last two decades I have worked variously as a humanitarian aid worker, IT system tester, project manager, administration manager, dog groomer, child care worker, senior deckhand, and photographer. To a certain extent, I have never left any of these behind and they still exert an influence on me, especially my work as a photographer which continues to this day.

My writing is furthermore underpinned by rigorous academic training. Educated at Monash University (First Class Honours), UCLA (Dean’s Honors List), Brown University (Master of Arts), George Washington University, and the University of Tasmania (where I hope to one day complete my PhD), my main areas of academic research have been: slaveholders in the late antebellum South, the American Civil War, Hannah Arendt, the Spanish Civil War, and religion in Tudor England. I am a recipient of the George Yule Essay Prize for my work on conscience in Tudor England.


Current Interests:

My recent writing has concentrated on the 1990s war in the former Yugoslavia, building upon my personal experiences as a humanitarian aid worker. Two short stories, 'Collateral Damage' and 'Balkan Justice', have been broadcast on Radio for the Print Handicapped, and 'Collateral Damage' was Highly Commended by the Fellowship of Australian Writers in its Iris Milutinovic Short Story Competition. I also have a chapter on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in 'Women of Hope: True Stories of Suffering and Faith' (edited by Linda Baraciolli). My semi-autobiographical novel about an aid worker during the Balkan conflict is in the final stage of editing with an anticipated publication in 2012 (to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Bosnian war). Please see the Links tab to read some of my non-fiction articles online.

I am also working on the final draft of a fantasy novel that explores issues of religion, politics, and conscience (in the less serious context of a grand quest and adventure on the high seas).