Dr Judith Buckrich was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1950 and emigrated to Melbourne with her parents in 1958. She is the author of books, articles, short stories and works for the theatre and has taught writing, curated exhibitions and worked at several of Melbourne’s cultural institutions.

Between 1987 and 1990 (the last years of the Cold War) she lived in Budapest, Hungary writing articles for The Age Monthly Review, Quadrant and other publications. She was copy editor for English language The Daily News and a stringer for ABC Radio’s The Europeans and Books and Writing. 

President of the Melbourne PEN Centre from 1993 to 2005 and Chair of the International PEN Women Writers’ Committee from 2003 to 2009, she is a past President of the PMI Victorian History Library. 

Judith won the 2016 Victorian Community History Award for The Village of Ripponlea and the 2018 Fellowship of Australian Writers (Victoria) Award for non-fiction for Acland Street: the Grand Lady of St Kilda. 

Judith is the author of 16 books about Melbourne people and places including: 

• Melbourne’s Grand Boulevard: The Story of St Kilda Road  State Library of Victoria 1996
• George Turner: A Life (the subject of her doctoral dissertation) Melbourne University Press 1999
• The Long and Perilous Journey: A History of the Port of Melbourne Melbourne Books 2002 
• Collins: Australia’s Premier Street Australian Scholarly Publishing 2005
• The Village of Ripponlea Lauranton Books 2015 - Winner of the 2016 Victorian History Prize for a small run publication.
• Acland Street: the Grand Lady of St Kilda ATOM 2017 – Winner of the 2018 Fellowship of Writers award for non-fiction
• Yarra-Birrarung: Artists, Writers and the River, Melbourne Books 2024.