Angela Savage
I went to Southeast Asia on a six-month scholarship and ended up staying six years. Based in Vientiane, Hanoi and finally Bangkok, I managed a HIV/AIDS prevention program for the Australian Red Cross that covered five countries in the Mekong River subregion. I returned to my hometown of Melbourne in 1998, taking a year or so out of the workforce to try and fulfil my dream of becoming a published author. My short story The Mole on the Temple won third prize at the Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Awards in 1998, and introduced Bangkok-based detective Jayne Keeney, the main character in my first full-length novel, Behind the Night Bazaar, published by The Text Publishing Company in 2006. Behind the Night Bazaar won the 2004 Victorian Premier's Literary Award in the unpublished manuscript category (as Thai Died). In the years before this, I worked as an au pair in France, before completing an Arts (Combined Honours) degree at the University of Melbourne. I have published numerous newspaper, magazine and journal articles based on my travels and my work in sexual health and international development. My partner and I lived in Canberra from 1999-2002, where I worked full-time on my writing, before returning to the paid workforce. In 2000-02, my job with the international program of Family Planning Australia took me to countries throughout the South Pacific and back to Southeast Asia. I currently work as a Policy Analyst for the community sector in Melbourne. I live with Andrew Nette, my partner since 1990, and our daughter Natasha.