MICRO-BIO

• Born in Indonesia of French parents, and brought up in Australia and France, Sophie Masson is the award-winning and internationally-published author of over 60 books for children, young adults and adults. Her latest books include the picture books T...More

  Born in Indonesia of French parents, and brought up in Australia and France, Sophie Masson is the award-winning and internationally-published author of over 60 books for children, young adults and adults. Her latest books include the picture books Two Rainbows(illustrated by Michael McMahon, Little Hare, 2017) which received a Notable Books citation in the 2018 CBCA Awards, Once Upon An ABC(illustrated by Christopher Nielsen, Little Hare, 2017) which was shortlisted for the 2018 Crichton Awards, and the YA thriller Jack of Spades(Eagle Books 2017), which was longlisted for the 2018 Davitt Awards. In 2013, Sophie co-founded Christmas Press, a small-press publisher of children's books which has received national and international recognition and sales. She is currently its publishing director. In the final year(2018) of a PHD in Creative Practice at the University of New England, Sophie has published widely in academic journals and presented at national and international conferences, on a range of literary culture and publishing industry topics. She was also awarded an APA Scholarship and UNE Top Up Scholarship(2015-2018), as well as a Keith and Dorothy Mackay Travelling Scholarship in 2017. In the same year, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Children's Literature Research Centre at the University of Cambridge (UK). A Board member of the Small Press Network, a former Chair of the Australian Society of Authors, and the current Chair of the New England Writers' Centre, Sophie has a close understanding and experience of both authorship and publishing practice, on which she has written extensively. Her book on authorship in a digital age, The Adaptable Author, was published by Keesing Press in 2014, and she has a chapter on author-publishers in Publishing Means Business(Monash University Publishing, 2017), with another, on crowdfunding and small publishers, accepted for publication as a chapter in a forthcoming(2018) Monash University Publishing book. As well, she has written course material for a Publishing Practice unit at the University of New England, and lectured on writing and publishing issues both in Australia and internationally. Her writing and publishing blog, Feathers of the Firebird, has featured interviews with authors, publishers, agents and other book industry professionals, as well as insights into her own and others' creative processes.

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EXPERIENCE

• University of New England

  • Contracted course material writer; casual lecturer and tutor
  • Writing Program
  • January 2017 to Present

• University of New England

  • PhD student in Creative Practice, scholarly author
  • School of Arts, Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education
  • August 2015 to Present

• Christmas Press

  • Publishing director and co-founder
  • Publishing
  • January 2013 to Present

• Self-Employed

  • Author
  • Creative Writing
  • January 1988 to Present

EDUCATION

• University of New England

  • Doctor of Philosophy in Creative Practice
  • August 2015 to Present

  Enrolled as full time candidate for PhD in Creative Practice; due to submit thesis on August 14, 2018

• University of New England

  • Master of Letters
  • May 1988 to April 1990

  Master of Letters in French and English literature; dissertation written in both languages

• University of New England

  • Bachelor of Arts
  • April 1985 to April 1988

  Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English, French, and Australian Literature

Interests

• Australian Literature

• French Literature

• Book Industry

• Authors

• Illustrators

• Speculative Fiction

• Young Adult Afterlife Fiction

• Historical Fiction

• Fantasy Literature

• Young Adult Literature

• Children's Literature

• Creative Process

• Small Press Publishing

• Authorship

• Publishing

Links

• Christmas Press website
• UNE Postgraduate student profile
• Academia.edu profile
• Writing and publishing blog
• Author website