Judith Emmerson James

Judith Emmerson James is an artist, arts lecturer, editor and journalist. A writer since childhood, she was educated at U.S.Q. and Q.I.T. in Queensland, Australia. A child of the bush, she grew up with indigenous people, and roamed around much of Outback Australia. Having contracted Multiple Sclerosis in the 1980s, Judith was aghast at the lack of help for people with all types of disabilities in country areas. She helped form aid groups across Australia, dealt with all levels of government, written, edited and published disability newsletters and bulletins for nearly thirty years, as well as film and stage scripts, having had a play produced, with short stories and poetry published in Range Writers Anthologies.

Receiving many awards and medals for her work for so many years in the disability sector across Australia, Judith writes for Government submissions and Disability Organisation websites. She was nominated for Australian of the Year in 2012.

On her desk is a pave of purple amethyst crystals which came directly from the lost cave in the Flinders Ranges…the inspiration for her first full-length novel.