Mabel Kaplan

Name Mabel Kaplan
Email Address mabelka@hotmail.com
Profession Writer, Editor, Proofreader, Oral Storyteller, Retreat Leader, Workshop Facilitator
Professional Services
  • Community writing facilitation
  • Consultations
  • Editing
  • Mentoring
  • Public readings
  • Talks
  • Therapeutic writing
  • Workshop presentation
Areas of Work
  • Autobiography
  • Biography
  • Children's
  • Fiction
  • History
  • Nonfiction
  • Picture books
Country Australia
State WA
Suburb Girrawheen
Address 54 Hudson Avenue
Website http://belka37.blogspot.com
Phone 08 9342 7150
Biography From a young age, her Scottish grandfather regaled her with songs and stories of the old world and tales of the Australian bush - pioneering and prospecting tales. Story is implanted in Mabel’s genes. At eight she began her first anthology of poetry. Unfortunately, it was never completed … a dog took her pencil … she ran out of paper … her desk broke … and her long-suffering mother suggested she try storytelling instead. She now works with story and poetry in various formats as an oral teller of tales traditional, literary and original, personal and family; as a writer; and, as an oral historian recording and transcribing personal and group stories (particularly those of indigenous people). As a professional storyteller Mabel offers performances and workshops in schools and libraries, to community groups, adult day care and nursing homes. She is a regular participant in festivals and Children’s Book Council events. She is a workshop facilitator, retreat leader, a life member of the Storytelling Guild of Australia (WA); and, a member of Peter Cowan Writers Centre, EditorsWA and SCBWI. Over the past six years she has been a Storyteller-in-Residence at a local school where she enjoys a warm and positive connection to people in general and to children, in particular. More recently, Mabel has written a number of poems and short stories published in various anthologies and magazines. In 2007 she produced her first children’s picture book: Connie and the Pigeons.
Publication History Childrens’ Picture Book: Connie and the Pigeons, Stories for the Telling, Girrawheen WA 2007 Illustrated by Kelli Hainke Short Stories: ‘By a Rock Pool: Reflections on the Early Life of Edith Dircksey Cowan’ in Love Lines: The 2005 Anthology of The Peter Cowan Writers Centre, Peter Cowan Writers Centre Inc. Publishing, Edith Cowan University Campus, Joondalup ‘Wednesday’s Child’ in An Endless Afternoon: an Anthology, Lioness Publications, Darlington 2000 ‘The Long Road Home’ in Urban Scrawl: A Peter Cowan Writers Centre Anthology, Indian Ocean Books, Joondalup, WA 2000 ‘The Ice Maidens’ in Western Word Vol.23. No. 9 March 2000 (2nd prize winner in the 1999 Patron's Prize for Myth or Fairytales) ‘Singing Up Christmas’ in Readers' World Vol 3, Issue 17, January 2001 Articles: ‘Encounter with Elizabeth Jolley’ in Swag of Yarns: Australia’s National Storytelling Magazine, Autumn, 2005, Vol. 8 No. 1 also: in Marginata Issue 6, 2004 ‘Joseph Jacobs in Profile’ in Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, Volume XVII, Part 1, June 2004 ‘Joice Nankivell Lock: Australia’s Most Decorated Woman’ in Swag of Yarns: Australia’s National Storytelling Magazine, Summer 2004, Vol. 7 No. 4 ‘Profile of a Storyteller’ in Swag of Yarns: Australia’s National Storytelling Magazine, Spring 2004,Vol. 7 No. 3 ‘In Search of Joseph Jacobs: The Research Process in Swag of Yarns: Australia’s National Storytelling Magazine, Winter 2004, Vol. 7 No. 2