Acclaimed natural history author Dr Danielle Clode from Flinders University will be travelling to the Far North of South Australia in May as Writers SA’s latest Writer in Residence.

She will be visiting several towns and regions to connect with readers and writers through talks and workshops at libraries and community centres, visiting schools and providing one-on-one consultations including the School of the Air in Port Augusta (13-14 May), Roxby Downs Community Library and Andamooka (15-17 May), Coober Pedy (18-22 May) Woomera (23-24 May) and Port Pirie  (25-26 May).

Writers SA’s Writers and Readers in Residence Project has been extended to 2021, with assistance from the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts.

Writers SA Director Jessica Alice says: “We are excited for this residency to further Danielle’s literary work drawing upon the unique fossils found in these remarkable South Australian places, and are particularly looking forward to her contribution to the communities of writers and readers that she visits.”

Associate Professor Clode has written 10 non-fiction books for children and adults as well as articles on a range of topics from fossils, bushfires, exploration, killer whales, museums and collectors. Her latest book traces the historical contribution of the first female explorer to circumnavigate the globe In Search of the Woman who Sailed the World (Picador).

Her best-selling book on Australian megafauna draws on fossils from the Eromanga Basin as does her book on Australia’s ancient inland sea. She is currently working on a middle grade biography of Flinders University palaeontologist Professor John Long, as well as a book about koalas.

“Having read and written so much about Australian fossils, I’m really looking forward to visiting some of the places where they came from and particularly the opal fields that formed at the bottom of Australia’s ancient inland sea,” says Dr Clode, Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Flinders University.