Meet our Authors
Andra Jackson is an award-winning journalist formerly from The Age. She wrote a regular jazz column for The Sun newspaper in the eighties and the Herald Sun newspaper writing on jazz from 1995-2000. From 2000 to 2011 she was a staff journalist on The Age covering general news and specialised in writing about refugees, human rights, the Middle East and music, in particular jazz.
She currently writes jazz interviews as a freelancer for The Australian and Rhythms Music magazine She considers her greatest jazz accolade to be when someone read out to Wayne Shorter her review in The Age of his first concert in the Melbourne International Jazz Festival in 2005 and he listened and responded with: ‘She Got it.’ Andra is Adrian’s sister, co-author of Wangaratta Festival of Jazz & Blues 30 Years.
Leonie worked for 15 years in indigenous health in the Northern Territory and was a national leader in the use of technology to support rural and remote delivery of health care. Leonie’s work brought her into professional public speaking for many years. Cycling became part of life in Darwin for Leonie and her four children where it was easy and safe as a means of transport. Leonie lost her mother to cancer and was divorced. Alone and afraid of the future, the impossibility of a solo bike ride across quarter of the globe became the way she forced herself to step out of her fears and redefine who she was and was going to be. The ride became a successful fund raiser for children with cancer through blogging on Facebook and Instagram. This is Leonie’s first writing adventure and proceeds from the book will support her charity of children with cancer. She now lives in Melbourne, near her four grown up children. Leonie is the author of When We're Not Afraid: My 12,000 km bike-packing ride through South America
