Ethel Shippen migrated to Australia in 1950. Before she married she worked in the civil service as a clerk in the Pensions Department. She married George Shippen, and they had three sons and three daughters.
Among other activities, Ethel worked as a Drama Director of workshops for children in the Q Theatre from 1970 until it closed down in 1985, producing mostly her own plays. She was a visiting writer at Mallala Primary School during Children's Book Week in July 1984, and taught drama at the Prospect branch of the School of Music, Movement and Drama in 1985. Ethel joined the SA Branch of the Society of Women Writers in 1976 and has since held various committee positions including President 1981-2 and 1997-9. She was also Federal President 1982-4. In 1997 she received a citation in The Mature Times, South Australian Citizens' Hall of Fame for services to the young and the elderly over a number of years. Ethel has also written and illustrated books outside the scope of this bibliography, including We Came to Oz Because..., telling her own and others' migrants experiences and Stepping On Stage (sponsored by Q Theatre, 1979), and edited Down the Years (Tales of 20th Century Walkerville) (1982).
