AWC alumna Sandie Docker reveals her inspiration and writing process behind The Redgum River Retreat. Plus: how to write your novel faster. And win The Briefest English Grammar and Punctuation Guide Ever! by Ruth Colman.
Australian author, Sandie Docker grew up in Coffs Harbour, and first fell in love with reading when her father introduced her to fantasy books as a teenager. Her love of Women’s Fiction began when she first read Jane Austen for the HSC, but it wasn’t until she was taking a translation course at university that her Mandarin lecturer suggested she might have a knack for writing – a seed of an idea that sat quietly in the back of her mind while she lived overseas and travelled the world.
Now back in Sydney, Sandie writes about love, loss, family and small country towns. Her debut novel, The Kookaburra Creek Café, was released in 2018, The Cottage At Rosella Cove in 2019, the German edition of The Kookaburra Creek Cafe – Das kleine Café der großen Träume, was released in Jan, 2020, The Banksia Bay Beach Shack in 202O, The Wattle Island Book Club in 2021 and her latest book, The Redgum River Retreat, in 2023. Sandie is also the founder and director of The Northern Beaches Readers Festival.
