Laughing at the Dark: a memoir

Description

'My own first memory is the cupboard door, and laughing, erupting with laughter' - a memoir about finding an identity, a voice and laughter. From the best-selling and acclaimed author Barbara Else, Laughing at the Dark is a funny, moving memoir about how she rebelled against being a 'good girl'. By the time she was in her forties, Barbara was married to a globally recognised academic physician and had two beautiful teenage daughters. As her writing career developed, her husband became angry at the prospect of her being anything but a housewife. In a moment of madness - or realisation - she packed her car and took off to live with the man who would become her second husband. With her trademark wit and humour, Barbara poignantly describes her transformation from a shy but stubborn child into a fulfilled and successful adult. 'I laughed and laughed, and I cried and cried. It's got everything in it except a murder.' - Lesley Graham, soprano (and totally unbiased sister)

Barbara Else is an acclaimed writer and editor whose writing is distinguished by its acerbic wit and sharp observation and is often concerned with 'bringing women out of the shadows'. In a career spanning three decades, she has written plays, short stories, novels for adults, children's novels and a non-fiction work, and has edited collections of stories for children. She has held a number of fellowships and residencies- the Victoria University of Wellington's Writer's Fellowship 1999; the Creative New Zealand Scholarship in Letters 2004 and the University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children's Writer in Residence 2016. She was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2005. Through her work as a literary agent and assessor, she has discovered and mentored a number of emerging New Zealand writers, many of whom are now award-winning writers in their own right, and she was instrumental in setting up the New Zealand Association of Literary Agents and New Zealand Association of Manuscript Assessors. She has won multiple awards in New Zealand for her children's books, including Storylines Notable Book Awards, Honour Awards and the Esther Glen Medal, and has been internationally recognised at Bologna with a White Raven. In 2016 Barbara received the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal in recognition of her services to children's literature.