Look and Listen

Biography

Glenice Whitting was born in Melbourne in 1941. She left school at 14 to become a hairdresser. At the age of fifty, returning to study as a mature age student, she obtained her VCE, which led to a BA at Monash University and an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne. She is currently a PHD candidate at Swinburne University. Glenice never dreamt that she would become a writer. However, over the past thirteen years she spent three years as an online editor and columnist at Suite101.com, showcasing inspiring Australian women. Her published works include biographies, interviews,reviews, plays and numerous short stories. Her play, Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow,was produced during the 2002 Fertile Ground New Play Festival. 'Pickle to Pie' is Glenice’s debut novel and was a sell-out success at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival. She also loves donning a wetsuit and snorkling over coral at the Whitsunday Islands

Inspiration

The seeds of my writing journey were planted long ago in my childhood, but like many other writers, it was an unexpected incident in my life that made me write about a previously forbidden topic. In 1995 I discovered in the family home, a box of postcards dating back to the nineteenth century. Most of the messages were written in Old High German. On translation, they revealed my hidden heritage. Because of the two world wars, before I was born our family name was changed from Schleissinger to Sterling. During my childhood I was told that in 1885 my Australian born father’s grandparents immigrated from the more socially acceptable country Belgium. I didn’t meet my German grandmother until I was twelve and by then knew not to ask questions. I became passionate about giving a voice to other children of German descent who lived in Australia during the last century and struggled to come to terms with their opposing worlds