Cirrus@Austlit

Sophie Masson was born in Indonesia to French parents. Her mother's family came from Northern Portugal, Valencia in Spain and from the Basque region of the Pyrenees; her father's from South West France and Quebec in Canada. She spent her first nine months of life in Indonesia, then lived in France with her grandmother and aunts in Toulouse until emigrating to Australia with her parents in 1963. There were frequent returns to Empeaux in the southwest of France.

Masson's French heritage has provided a fertile knowledge of stories, legends and fairytales and she has developed a strong interest in Celtic mythology and the Medieval period. As an adolescent she read fantasy and science fiction, in particular the works of Ray Bradbury. She attended Sydney Catholic schools and then the University of Sydney, completing her Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master's degree in both English and French literature at the University of New England. From 1979 she travelled in Europe. She worked as a journalist before becoming a full time writer of fiction for children and adults. Masson lives in Armidale with her family.

Masson won first prize in the 1984 Moto Magazine (Zimbabwe) competition for her short story, The Barbecue. Her work was read on Radio 2EA in 1983 and 1985 and she has read at the French-Australian Cultural Symposium at the University of New South Wales as well as in Armidale, New South Wales. Her novel Fire in the Sky was placed on the Children's Book Council's Notable Books List and in 1992 was broadcast as a radio serial on 2ARM FM (Armidale).

Masson's strong interest in Arthurian legend led to her involvement as one of the organisers of the Grail Quest festival held at Sydney University in June 1999 and the Camelot Day celebrations at Macquarie University in April 2000. She is the president of the Arthurian Association of Australia.

In 2004, as the author of over 30 novels for adults, young adults and children, Masson accepted a three year appointment to the Literature Board of the Australia Council. She has also been a member of the Australian Society of Authors, the Children's Book Council and the New South Wales Writers' Centre. Masson's writing is featured frequently in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian, the Age, the Guardian Weekly, Quadrant, Australian Quarterly, the Australian Book Review and Online Catholics.

(Source: A Bibliography of Australian Multicultural Writers (1992) compiled by Sneja Gunew et.al.)