Day in the Life | < Back

Barbara Hannay's writing career began at the age of eight when she earned her writer's badge in the Brownies, (junior Girl Scouts) writing a story about a little girl who is devastated when she has to move from the city to the outback, leaving her friends and fellow Brownies behind. Today the challenge of living in the outback is still a strong theme in many of Barbara's romances, although there's always a sexy hero to make the choice more interesting.

Perhaps it's not surprising that Barbara sets many of her romances in the bush or on tropical islands, as she lives in Townsville in North Queensland, a coastal city that has been described as being "where the outback meets the sea." There are cattle properties within the city limits and yet just off shore are Magnetic Island and the Great Barrier Reef.

Barbara is thrilled that OUTBACK WITH THE BOSS won Romantic Times' Reviewers' Choice Award for Best Harlequin Romance 2001.

For many years while her four children were growing up, Barbara taught secondary school English and poured any leftover creative energy into encouraging her offspring to explore their own artistic potential. She is delighted with their interesting career choices - one daughter is a violinist and the other a dancer, while her elder son is a playwright/chef and his brother a zoologist.

Barbara's husband Elliot, a former newspaper editor, is her first reader and her brainstorming partner and together they love to travel to overseas destinations as well as the outback, researching settings for future stories.

Now that Barbara writes full time she has to keep pinching herself to make sure that her long held dream really has come true. She likes to share her understanding of the craft of writing, so aspiring writers might like to check out writing articles on her web site and she loves to hear from readers. You can contact her at barbara@barbarahannay.com and her web site is http://www.barbarahannay.com.

Barbara Hannay