About Kirsty

I was born in Melbourne in November, 1960, the middle child in a family of seven kids. After a number of years spent living and working in other countries including Canada, Wales and France, I returned to Australia and became a full-time writer.

I write children’s fiction with a focus on Australian history. Whether the book is a contemporary novel, time travel, or historical fiction, each one of my stories is set in the real world and connects to real people, events and places.

I currently live in Melbourne in a rambling weatherboard house with my husband and a gang of young people.

On Being a Writer

Writing isn’t just about putting words on a page. Writing is about being in the world. Writing about the world forces you to look closely and think deeply about the beautiful, wild chaos and incredible, complex patterns that surround us.

I write for children, rather than adults, because I believe children are the universal audience. Not everyone lives to a ripe old age but everyone was once a child and the child inside us never really disappears. In stories, the child hero is someone who can speak with honesty, see with clarity and act with courage.

I started out writing non-fiction because I am fascinated by the real world but when I came to write my fourth book, I discovered that I could merge the factual information that I loved with a story, and tell a really good yarn that kept the reader turning the pages.

There are many different ways to write a story but over the past few years I’ve found that I can explore all the things that interest me through historical fiction. I love doing research, dreaming about the past and imagining the future. I spend a lot of time researching the lives of real people and then weaving my findings into stories about imaginary characters, trying to create novels as vivid and exciting as the world we live in. History isn’t just about the past. It’s something that is happening right now. History connects to everything.

One of the best things about working as a writer is having the chance to take a moment in time and capture it in words. Every morning, when I walk into my office, I get a real rush of pleasure knowing I have a whole day ahead of me full of the excitement that writing can bring.

© Kirsty Murray 2007
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Main Photo of Kirsty by Barb MacNamara