Anne Hanzl graduated as a teacher from the State College of Victoria in Coburg in 1976. She went on to study for a Graduate Diploma of Librarianship and worked as a teacher librarian. In about 1980 she returned to the State College of Victoria to teach children’s literature and language method. She continued to teach at the College, subsequently Phillip Institute and part of RMIT University, until her retirement. Anne Hanzl also gained a Bachelor of Education and a Master of Education from Latrobe University.
As well as her lecturing commitments, Anne Hanzl worked as a reviewer and editor and wrote in the fields of children's literature and criticism. She served as the inaugural President of the Dromkeen Society and, between the years 1982 and 1989, as Vice President or President of the Victorian Branch of the Children's Book Council of Australia. She was the Council's National Secretary from 1993-1994. In 1993 she convened the children’s literature pre-conference institute ‘The Dreaming and Beyond: Literature for the World’s Children from Aboriginal Australia’, held in Melbourne before the Australian Reading Association’s First International Conference.
Her obituary, published on 19 January in Reading Time online, notes that she 'spent her life celebrating the wealth of literature for young people and bringing children and books together.'
Source: 'Vale Anne Hanzl'. Reading Time online. Web. 15/05/2014
