Sue Smethurst
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Sue Smethurst is an Australian-born journalist and author.
She has written 10 non-fiction books. Her most recent book The Freedom Circus has been translated into six languages. Smethurst won the Rural Press Club Victoria Award for Best Feature Story in 2021.[1] and was a finalist in the Mumbrella Publish Awards (2021) and Melbourne Press Club Quill Awards (2019)[2]. Her book Behind Closed Doors was a finalist in the 2016 Davitt Awards for Crime Writing[3].
Official website: Sue Smethurst
Life and writing career Smethurst was born in Morwell, Victoria[4]. She studied a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne between 1991-1994. She began a journalism cadetship with New Idea magazine, the flagship title of Australian publisher Pacific Magazines
In her early journalism career Smethurst was responsible for notable interviews with fugitive Australian businessman Christopher Skase in Majorca [5] and the son of controversial Australian politician[6] Senator Pauline Hanson
Smethurst's long-form features have been published in a wide range of national and international publications including The Australian Women's Weekly [7] , Good Weekend[8] and The Weekend Australian Magazine[9].
In 2002 Smethurst wrote her first book, The Clothesline Diet published by Pan Macmillan[10]. This was followed by a series of related books published by Pan Macmillan, Wilkinson Publishing and Harlequin (USA)[11]
In 2015 Smethurst wrote Behind Closed Doors the true story of Victorian woman Katherine X who was imprisoned by her father, and gave birth to four of his children[12]. Katherine X endured thirty years of his violent sexual abuse, one of the most horrific cases of systematic rape, torture and abuse the world has seen[13]. The story of Katherine X has been likened to the case of Elisabeth Fritzl in Austria. Much of the abuse happened in Morwell where Smethurst was born. As a result of sharing her story, Katherine X was invited to give evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse relating to her time at notorious girls home Winlaton after which the Child Abuse Royal Commission awarded her compensation[14]. Behind Closed Doors was a finalist in the Sisters in Crime 2016 Davitt Awards for Crime Writing.
Smethurst's next work was a departure from crime. A Diamond in the Dust was published by Simon & Schuster in 2018, documenting the life of Kununurra diamond and farming pioneer Frauke Bolten-Boshammer Smethurst created a 'richly rewarding read', according to Better Reading A Diamond in the Dust has been published in Germany.
In 2019 Smethurst wrote Blood on the Rosary, also published by Simon & Schuster. The book tells the story of how Australian nun Margaret Harrod took on the Catholic church, fighting for more than a decade to bring paedophile priests to justice. One of them was her twin brother Michael who was subsequently jailed as a result of her blowing the whistle[15]. The memoir was widely acclaimed and described by Sisters in Crime as 'heartfelt', 'brave' and 'inspiring'. Renowned church abuse advocate and author of Hell on the Way to Heaven, Chrissie Foster said "Margaret Harrod's compelling life experience is a truth we all need to understand."
Smethurst's most acclaimed work to date is The Freedom Circus a deeply moving personal story of how her husband's family survived the Holocaust[16]. It took Smethurst five years of detailed investigative research to piece together how Kubush Horowitz, a circus clown, and his wife Mindla used the cover of the Staniewski Brothers Circus to flee the Warsaw Ghetto and the Nazis. After surviving a terrifying journey through the USSR, Middle East, Italy and Africa, Kubush and Mindla Horowitz made their way to Australia where Kubush became one of the first clowns on Australian television on GTV 9 'The Tarax Show. Heather Morris author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz described the book as 'a story of extraordinary bravery, resilience and love that needed to be told'.
In addition to her career in media and publishing, Smethurst has served on the Boards of Destination Gippsland, the Royal Victorian Eye & Ear hospital, Ad Standards Australia community panel and the Bairnsdale Regional Health Service
Books The Clothesline Diet, Pan Macmillan Australia 2002.ISBN 0330363697
The Clothesline Diet Club, Pan Macmillan Australia 2003.ISBN 0330364324
Why Can't I Lose Weight?, Wilkinson Publishing 2005.ISBN 187588985X
The Clothesline Diet (USA), Harlequin 2010 ISBN 9780373892198
The Clothesline Diet AUS, Pan Macmillan 2010.ISBN 9780330425520
Behind Closed Doors, Simon & Shuster Australia, 2015 ISBN 9781925368284
Spartacus and Me, with Vashti Whitfield Simon & Schuster Australia 2016 ISBN 9781925310306
A Diamond in the Dust, Simon & Schuster Australia 2018 ISBN 9781925685084
Blood on the Rosary, Simon & Schuster Australia, 2019 ISBN 9781925533354
The Freedom Circus, Penguin Australia, 2020.ISBN 9781760890308
References
- ↑ "Rural Press Club Victoria Awards 2021".
- ↑ "Melbourne Press Club Quill Awards". Melbourne Press Club. Melbourne Press Club.
- ↑ "The Sisters in Crime 16th Davitt Awards".
- ↑ Smethurst, Sue. "Connecting Gippsland through positive storytelling". Gippslandia. Gippslandia. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
- ↑ Carbone, Suzanne. "A very expensive room at the heartbreak hotel". The Age. The Age. Retrieved 30 April 2008.
- ↑ "Pauline Hanson's life and times as told by the gossip mags". Sydney Morning Herald.
- ↑ Smethurst, Sue. "Rosie Batty's journey towards healing and hope". Now to Love. Are Media, The Australian Women's Weekly. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ↑ Smethurst, Sue. "No Way Out". Good Weekend. The Age. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
- ↑ Smethurst, Sue. "Lockdown's Crop". The Weekend Australian. The Australian newspaper. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
- ↑ "The Clothesline Diet". National Library of Australia. Australian Government.
- ↑ "Clothesline Diet helped mom lose 150 pounds". Today.com. NBC. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
- ↑ "Victoria's Fritzl on incest rape charges". Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
- ↑ "Incest father jailed for three decades of abuse". The Age. Fairfax. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
- ↑ Child Abuse Royal Commission. "Submission on Katherine X" (PDF). Royal Commission into Institutional Responses.
- ↑ Cooper, Adam. "Extra jail time for rapist ex-priest". The Age. The Age. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ↑ Neill, Rosemary. "How circus clown Kubush Horowitz escaped the Holocaust by performing for the Nazis". The Australian newspaper. News Limited. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
External links
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