Cirrus@Austlit

Ivy Skowronski married Polish-born Conrad Skowronski in 1951, and emigrated to Australia with him and their two sons in 1959, arriving in Adelaide aboard the SS Orcades. She worked as a secretary for many years, her last position being Secretary to the Town Clerk of Salisbury, South Australia. She was a weekly columnist for Gibber Gabber newspaper (1963-1966, as Paula Felkis) and the Gazette newspapers circulating in the northern areas of South Australia. She began writing poetry when she retired in 1980. Skowronski had no writing lessons and always edited her own work.

As well as the works listed on AustLit, Skowronski is also the author of Those Who Care (1996), a collection of true accounts by people who have cared at home for the terminally ill.

Skowronski was widowed in 1990, but continued to be actively engaged in her local community. From 1992 until her death in 2006 she provided a weekly programme for over-50s on the community radio station PBA FM in Salisbury. In 1999 she was leading a public campaign for amendment of legislation relating to home invasions, calling for stiffer penalties for offenders. Her 2003 non-fiction work As the Saying Goes deals with this subject.