Walters, Celeste 1938–

(Celeste Sowden)

PERSONAL:

Born March 10, 1938, in Melbourne, Australia; daughter of Harold E. (a manager) and Mona E. (a dressmaker) Walters; married Graham Sowden (an engineer), June 24, 1962; children: Ben, Timothy, Annie Strutt. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Attended Methodist Ladies College, Melbourne, Australia, 1945-54, and Melbourne Teachers College, 1955-57; Trinity College of Music, London, L.T.C.L. (with honors); University of Melbourne, L.S.D.A. Hobbies and other interests: Jazz, football, beach-walking.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Elwood, Victoria, Australia. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

High school English teacher in Canberra, Australia, 1969-75; Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, lecturer, 1976-89; La Trobe University, Melbourne, lecturer, 1990-93; Monash University, Melbourne, lecturer, 1994-98. Edith Cowan University, writer-in-residence, 1992; consultant to Teachers Resource Centre, Melbourne, and Mental Health Institute of Victoria.

MEMBER:

Australian Society of Authors, Fellowship of Australian Writers, Victorian Writers Guild, Australian College of Education.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Australian Premier's Literary Award and Talking Book Award, both 1997, both for The Killing of Mud-Eye.

WRITINGS:

What Shall I Say? How to Write Eulogies, Morehouse (Harrisburg, PA), 1995.

Who's Who at the Zoo (poetry), illustrated by Patricia Mullins, Puffin Books (Ringwood, Victoria, Australia), 1996.

The Killing of Mud-Eye (young adult novel), University of Queensland Press (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 1997.

The Last Race (young adult novel), University of Queensland Press (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 2000.

The Rabbiter's Hut, Pascal Press (Glebe, New South Wales, Australia), 2002.

The Glass Mountain, University of Queensland Press (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 2003.

Deception, University of Queensland Press (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 2005.

Only a Donkey, Penguin (Camberwell, Victoria, Australia), 2007.

Shadows on the Sand, University of Queensland Press (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 2007.

Treading the Boards, Little Hare Books (Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia), 2007.

UNDER NAME CELESTE SOWDEN

Literacy through Drama, Port Phillip Press (Elsternwick, Australia), 1977.

End House, Rigby (Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1978.

Developing Language through Drama, Nelson (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1985.

Gnome Sweet Gnome (poetry), illustrated by John Forrest, Hill of Content (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1989.

Pets Day, Pascal Press (Glebe, New South Wales, Australia), 1989.

That's Us (poetry), Hudson Publishing (Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia), 1991.

SIDELIGHTS:

"Writing for the young adult market has taught me that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword—mightier even than the ubiquitous PC," Celeste Walters once commented: "For it is through reading, through identifying with character, situation, place and time, that attitudes and behaviors can be changed and a sense of connectedness replace that which is born of isolation and of self-doubt. I know. I've seen it happen.

"The two major works that I wrote for this age group, The Killing of Mud-Eye and The Last Race, addressed, in the first instance, the subject of bullying leading to mental illness and in the second, the nature of competition and the pressures put upon young people to ‘win gold.’

"I felt that my years of experience at the secondary and tertiary levels of learning qualified me eminently to expound upon such issues. In other words, I aimed to address the dilemmas that young people encounter daily in the media and, without providing any ‘hard and fast’ rules, show ways in which these dilemmas might be resolved without injury to self or others. This led once again to doing the lecture circuit, and to devising role plays as well as problem solving techniques and strategies for the free interchange of thoughts and ideas. Observing them. Hearing the sounds of honesty and openness—music to a writer's ears. The hand itches to pick up the pen. Words, written in love, generate love. And when a writer receives letters in which the young person of that wobbly thirteen to eighteen years age group states ‘I will never use such terms again for you have shown me the power of language …,’ then one is both enriched and humbled. For the writer, in walking ‘this way but once,’ somewhere, in some small corner of the world, has used words that have made a difference."

Walters writes books for a wide range of audiences, from whimsical rhymes for the picture book crowd to how-to advice for those composing eulogies. In Who's Who at the Zoo, Walters collects a series of poems that not only celebrate the uniqueness of the animals to be found at the zoo, but the joy of playing with language. Her rhymes are often of the nonsensical variety associated with Ogden Nash. The result is "a witty, joyous collection guaranteed to lift up the spirits on the greyest winter day," observed Moira Robinson in Magpies. In a more serious vein, Walters's young adult novel, The Killing of Mud-Eye, details in realistic prose the process by which the new boy at a private school in Melbourne becomes the target for abuse by his peers. "Walters has captured brilliantly the cruelty and sadness of adolescence," commented Cecile Grumelart in Magpies. The narrative is written in a manner intended to provoke identification between the characters and audience, and invites readers to question themselves and the power of peer groups to influence values and behavior, Grumelart suggested, calling the book a "gripping read."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Australian Book Review, June-July, 2005, Maya Linden, review of Deception, p. 62.

Magpies, July, 1996, Moira Robinson, review of Who's Who at the Zoo, p. 37; March, 1997, Cecile Grumelart, review of The Killing of Mud-Eye, p. 38.