AUTHOR / SCREENWRITER

Simmone Howell is an award-winning short story writer, screenwriter and small press publisher. Her debut novel, NOTES FROM THE TEENAGE UNDERGROUND has enjoyed wide-spread praise from reviewers, high-school students, writers and everyone in between. In 2007 NOTES picked up the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction and the State Library's Gold Inky Award!

"I grew up in Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs feeling far away from anything interesting. At eight I raced BMX; at thirteen I was into hair dye and pop music; at fifteen I decided that (like Sheila E) I wanted to lead the glamorous life, but school was a reality I couldn’t ignore.

"After school I boarded the carousel of casual employment - pubs, cafes and record shops. I read all the time – I loved the beats, pulp fiction and cult writers – I had lots of literary crushes. I finally went to University where I set up a small press called Vandal Press – and began writing seriously. Then I went overseas, leaving a trail of short stories.

"In 2002, one of my stories was made into the short film PITY 24. I won the Australian Writers Guild award for the script and travelled with the film to the Los Angeles Shortsfest where I saw the blind guy from Becker, walked on Kim Basinger’s red carpet and went to a pool party atop Schwabs Drugstore (and learned that no one swims at LA pool parties, NO ONE). "Finally I got a proper job working on hit TV show THE SECRET LIFE OF US where part of my job was writing the guff - the seven seconds of something that no-one actually hears. And when that job folded, I took all this stuff about movies and false starts and appreciating the background bits and turned them into a novel. "

Simmone is available for talks and workshops for secondary students. In her workshops, participants are encouraged to find inspiration for writing from a wide variety of props including short film clips, photographs and classified ads.

NOTES FROM THE TEENAGE UNDERGROUND: www.teenageunderground.com

Simmone's MySpace page: www.myspace.com/simmoneh

Pity 24: www.pity24.com

"She was very authentic and the students really responded well to her."

-Anne McIlroy, Genazzano College.

Students' responses from Simmone's workshop at Brighton Library:

"Simmone was really nice and really inspirational".

"I really enjoyed my time with Simmone and the other girls. Simmone helped us express our feelings to each other and she also helped me consider other forms of writing".

"The program took an interesting view on things which could morph into works. I enjoyed the laid-back atmosphere."

" Fantastic! Tons of fun!"