36 NOVEMBER 2019 http://www.writers-online.co.ukH
eather Morris was born in Te Awamutu, New Zealand and in 1971 moved to
Melbourne, Australia. She was a social worker there until 2017 but in 1996
she decided to follow her dream and enrolled in a professional scriptwriting
course. This was followed by screenwriting courses, seminars and workshops
in both Australia and America. In 2003 she was introduced to Lale Sokolov and, in
due course, wrote The Tattooist of Auschwitz as a screenplay. At first it was optioned
by Instinct Entertainment (Melbourne) but when the option lapsed, Heather entered
it into several international screenwriting competitions, winning the International
Independent Film Awards competition in 2016 and being highly placed in several
others, including the ISA (International Screenwriters’ Association) and Final Draft
competitions. Positive comments persuaded her to self-publish it as a novel. This, in
turn, interested Bonnier Books in Australia. The sequel, Cilka’s Journey, is published
this month.The author of runaway bestseller The Tattooist
of Auschwitz shares her top fi ve reads with
Judith SpelmanShelf life:
‘Eve writes about her famous mother
who along with her husband discovered
radioactivity. Born in Poland to academic
parents, Marie excelled at school but despite
being a top student at her secondary school,
she was not allowed to attend the men-only
University of Warsaw. She was forced to
continue her education in what was known as
a ‘floating university’ underground, informal
classes held in secret. Marrying a physicist who
put aside his own research to help his wife,
surely marks Pierre Curie as an extraordinary
man to sacrifice his career for his brilliant wife.
‘I have chosen this book because I remember
it so well. It was the first book I read about
a successful woman living in the early 20th
century who was not only academically
brilliant but broke new ground for her gender
in the sciences and socially. Following the
tragic death of her
husband Marie not
only took over his
teaching role at the
Sorbonne, becoming
the institution’s first
female professor,
but she also had an
open, public affair
with one of her
husband’s former
students.’MADAM CURIE:
A BIOGRAPHY
by Eve Curie‘Growing up in rural New Zealand with no television
until I was twelve years of age, reading was my only
source of ‘escape’. My earliest memory of books that
excited and interested me were The Adventures of
Madeline series. Written by Ludwig Bemelmans, they
are the adventures of a group of girls in a Catholic
boarding school in Paris. Madeline is the smallest of
the girls, just seven years old and the only redhead.
She is the bravest and most adventurous of the girls
and constantly getting into trouble. Even finding
herself sick and hospitalised, Madeline made an
adventure out of the experience. These adventures
opened my eyes to a country, a language and a religion
so foreign to me. I learned of the geography and landmarks of Paris that I would
many decades later visit and marvel at. I also found myself aligned with Madeline as
getting into trouble was something I seemed to do all too often. I read Madeline’s
stories to my daughter, and now I read them to my three-year-old granddaughter.
They are timeless.’THE ADVENTURES OF MADELINE
by Ludwig Bemelmansuntil I was twelve years of age, reading was my only
source of ‘escape’. My earliest memory of books that
excited and interested me were The Adventures of
Madeline series. Written by Ludwig Bemelmans, they
are the adventures of a group of girls in a Catholic
boarding school in Paris. Madeline is the smallest of
the girls, just seven years old and the only redhead.
She is the bravest and most adventurous of the girls
and constantly getting into trouble. Even finding
herself sick and hospitalised, Madeline made an
adventure out of the experience. These adventures
opened my eyes to a country, a language and a religionby Ludwig Bemelmans
HEATHER
MORRIS
Sorbonne, becomingLISTEN
TAP
HERE
To hear
an extract
from The
Tattooist of
Auschwitz