Goldie Alexander Goldie Alexander i(A20273 works by)
Also writes as: Gerri Lapin
Born: Established: 6 Sep 1936 Melbourne, Victoria, ; Died: Ceased: 3 Aug 2020
Gender: Female
Heritage: Jewish
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BiographyHistory

Goldie Alexander's parents migrated from Poland in the late 1920s, and when Goldie was small, she hardly spoke any English. She was educated at Presentation Convent, Windsor and MacRobertson Girls' High School before going on to Melbourne University to study for an Arts degree. Before completing it, however, she married and went to live in England, and later Newcastle and Perth, only returning to Melbourne some twelve years later.

Alexander was a high school teacher for 25 years, teaching English and history before becoming a full-time writer. Her first four books were Dolly Fiction novels for young adults published under the pseudonym 'Gerri Lapin'. She has since also written under her own name for adults and for children and has co-written two plays with Hazel Edwards (q.v.). Alexander also co-wrote The Business of Writing for Young People (1998) with Edwards, and has published teacher resource material. She has written a number of school readers and non-fiction works published by Macmillan Education. In 2010 Alexander wrote Mentoring Your Memoir, a guide to recording your life story.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Cybertricks Seven Hills : Five Senses Education , 2016 9420738 2016 single work children's fiction children's science fiction

'It is the year 20,043 AD. Pya, Zumi, Jafet and Trist – known as the Hatchlings – live in tiny Cells, are cared for by their tutor-holos, and can only communicate via their avatars. Pya narrates how the giant computer ComCen sends their real bodies back to the mid 21st (2043 AD) Century where they meet the twins, Rio and Charlie. But even if these six very quarrelsome youngsters manage to survive in a very dangerous world, they must also achieve Independence and Co-operation.' (Publication summary)

2017 CBCA Book of the Year Awards Notable Book Younger Readers
y separately published work icon In Hades Knoxfield : Celapene Press , 2014 7471872 2014 single work novel young adult fantasy

'17 YO Kai lives on the streets. The night Rod, his 12 YO autistic brother, comes looking for him, the two steal, crash a car and die. Searching for Rod, Kai finds himself in Hades where he meets dead Bilby-G. As their adventures continue, these youngsters are magically transformed to what they were before Kai became a street-boy and Bilby G. became anorexic. In their efforts to find Rod, the youngsters come across some of the mythical characters as described by Kai’s Greek grandmother before she died: a multi-headed dog. A blind prophet. Twin whirlpools. Three goddesses. A dangerous sea-nymph. The powerful sea-god and his evil one- eyed son.

'This novel’s journey (consisting of 47 poems that trace their journey through the underworld) is based on some of the mythical creatures from Homer’s “Odyssey”.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2014 shortlisted Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction Young Adult Division Best Short Story
Space Gypsies 2009 single work short story children's science fiction
— Appears in: My Horrible Cousins and Other Stories 2009;
2005 shortlisted Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction Children's Division Children's Short Fiction
Last amended 11 Jan 2022 16:08:07
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