Biography
My full name is Zenda Vecchio and I was born in South Australia 1948. After attending Marion High School, I studied law for two years but did not complete the course, leaving to get married in 1969. After the failure of my marriage and when most of my children had grown up, I started writing again, something I had not done since a child. I had almost instant success with short stories and in the last ten years I have had over sixty published in a wide variety of magazines from New Idea to Quadrant. In that same time (1998 –2008) I have had a novella and four collections of short stories published by Ginninderra Press as well as a YA novel Listen for the Nightingale brought out by Greater Glider Productions.
One of my most memorable experiences was going to Wagga Wagga in May 2003 on a Booranga Arts Fellowship at Charles Sturt University. I was writer-in-residence there from May11th until June7th. During that time I wrote most of my second YA novel Ah! Bright Wings. Unfortunately I have not been able to find a publisher for it.
I have had limited success with competitions. However in 2005 I won the Rolf Boldrewood Award for my short story The Dam. Lobster Eyes and Once Upon a Time have also won competitions and various other stories have been highly commended etc
At the present time I am working on another novel, The Swan’s Egg, which is based (loosely) on my own life and which I hope to finish this year (2009)