Cirrus@Austlit

Leonie Stevens grew up in a Middle Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Catholic family. Her father worked in a textile factory pressing suits for thirty-eight years; her mother stayed at home. Stevens's family, keen gamblers, won a fortune because she was the fourth child and the second girl. She wrote her first story at eleven years of age. Stevens wrote about the punk scene in Melbourne in the early 1980s and was co-director of the Scram Art Collective. She started writing for young adults after her adult novels began getting a good reception from younger readers.

Mike Shuttleworth reports that 'Stevens' literary heroes are a surprisingly mixed bunch, from early Beat influences such as Kerouac and Burroughs, to Dashiell Hammett, Carl Hiassen, to Georgette Heyer, the queen of Regency romance.' ('Take Two', The Age, 23.2.2003). She also believes 'one of the greatest creative minds' is Joss Whedon who is responsible for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Stevens says: 'Through punk, I saw that message of non-conformity and individualism and it immediately appealed to me. It kind of worked in with the beat thing, reading Kerouac.'

(Source: Mike Shuttleworth 'Take Two', The Age (23.2.2003).