Ruth Park (1917–2010) was born in New Zealand and lived there until 1942. As a convent schoolgirl she had been encouraged by her headmistress to become penpals with the Australian D'Arcy Niland, later the author of The Shiralee. Having corresponded with Niland for some time and encouraged his early fictional efforts she came to Australia to marry him and continue her career as a journalist. She travelled with Niland through outback Australia working in a variety of manual jobs which became material for a number of novels, but they eventually settled in the Sydney slum area of Surry Hills, described in Park's best-known works, The Harp in the South and Poor Man's Orange. She has written more than fifty books for adults and children including the Muddle Headed Wombat series. Amongst her many literary awards are the Miles Franklin Award for Swords and Crowns and Rings (1977) and the Australian Children's Book of the Year Award for Playing Beatie Bow (1980). The first volume of her autobiography, A Fence Around the Cuckoo, won the Age Book of the Year Award for non-fiction and the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies Award. In 1993 she won the Lloyd O'Neil Award for services to the book industry. Park was made AM in 1987.
