Cirrus@Austlit

An editor, publisher, and administrator, Anna Hepworth was raised in Perth, where she attended Kalamunda Senior High School. After graduating in 1989, she undertook a degree in psychology at the University of Western Australia, where her interest in science fiction and fantasy also saw her become actively involved in the local speculative-fiction community. Hepworth eventually served as president of the University of Western Australia's Science Fiction Association (UniSFA) in 1993, and was elected its vice president in 1997. Following the completion of her undergraduate degree, she completed two Bachelor of Science honours degrees: one in psychology and the other in math and statistics.

In 1998, Hepworth was a member of the executive that organised the 23rd Swancon. She and two other members of the committee, Simon Oxwell and Grant Watson, subsequently edited the anthology Twenty3: Miscellany, which was published by Infinite Monkeys in association with the Western Australian Science Fiction Foundation (WASFF) and Neutral Zone.

In 2002, she was a member of a committee that attempted to re-establish the magazine Eidolon. When this did not eventuate, she and a number of the other members (Stephen Dedman, Simon Oxwell, Grant Watson, David Cake, Sarah Xu, Sandra Norman, and Jodie Hunter) instead set up Borderlands Press. Among its first publications were the souvenir booklets accompanying the WASFF conventions Borderlands: The World Within (2001) and Borderlands: That Which Scares Us (2002). The latter publication went on to win the 2003 Ditmar Award for Best Australian Fan Achievement.

In 2003, the press published a third Borderlands convention souvenir booklet (titled Trilogy), along with the first issue of the Borderlands journal, a tri-yearly publication of literary speculative fiction (namely science fiction, fantasy, and horror). The journal continued publication up until 2009.

In addition to her activity as an editor and organiser, Hepworth has been a judge for the Aurealis Awards in the children's, young adult, and horror sections, and has served on three Borderlands convention committees and several Swancon committees, including Swancon 2008 (as convener). In 2005, she was recognised for her commitment to the speculative-fiction community by being named Fan Guest at Swancon 30 (A Festival of the Imagination, A Carnival of the Senses). In 2008, she was elected as the WASFF Returning Officer.

Hepworth has also continued to maintain a career as a teacher and researcher. During the mid-2000s, she taught a number of introductory courses on statistics at Murdoch University, and later returned to the University of Western Australia to become a Research Associate for the School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences. In this position, she has co-authored papers in several science periodicals, including Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology ('Validation of Nipple Diameter and Tongue Movement Measurements with B-Mode Ultrasound during Breastfeeding', 2010) and the Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry ('Quantification of Ceroid and Lipofuscin in Skeletal Muscle', 2011). In her spare time, Hepworth has been involved with the Australian Science Fiction Distributed Archive Project (ASFDAP) since around 2009/10.

Awards

Among the awards and recognition that Hepworth has received are:

• 2001 Swancon Award for Best Western Australian Collected Work, Editing: Borderlands: The World Within (Hepworth, Watson, and Oxwell).
• 2003 Ditmar Award for Best Australian Fan Achievement: Borderlands: That Which Scares Us (Hepworth, Watson, and Oxwell).
• 2003 Tin Duck Award for Best WA Professional Production in any Medium: Borderlands: That Which Scares Us (publication: Hepworth, Watson, and Oxwell).
• 2003 Tin Duck Award for Best WA Non-Professional Production in Any Medium: Borderlands: That Which Scares Us (convention: Hepworth, Watson, and Oxwell).
• 2007 Tin Duck Award for Best WA Professional Publication in Any Medium: Borderlands (Oxwell et al).