Ken Spillman

Summary

Dr Ken Spillman studied literature, media and history at Griffith and Murdoch universities and is now a prolific author, editor and critic. He has written around 80 books, tackling both fiction and non-fiction, and has won or been shortlisted for numerous prizes.

Biography

While in his teens, Ken Spillman published numerous poems and short stories in leading Australian literary magazines, as well as Poetique (Brussels). He worked for many years as a non-fiction writer and literary critic before shifting his focus to fiction for both adults and children. Ken's work is represented in many anthologies, and the US reference Contemporary Authors has published a detailed entry on his career. He has been a freelance manuscript assessor for several publishers, a creative writing thesis examiner, and a judge of writing competitions or book awards in Australia, India and Asia. Ken was involved in the establishment of the Asian Festival of Children’s Content and is well known as a mentor and advocate for writing and writers internationally. A life member of IBBY (India), he has served as a Director of the Australian Society of Authors and judge of the WA Premier's Book Awards.

Recent experience

Recent Experience includes:
- Judge, WA Premier’s Book Awards (2019)
- Peer assessor, Australian Council for the Arts (2017-2020)
- Director, Australian Society of Authors (2017-18)
- Keynote speaker, writingWA Writing Forum, University of Western Australia (2016)
- Mentor, Centre for Stories, Emerging African Writers (2016)
- Mentor, writingWA Awards (2015-16)