Barbara was born in England and was lucky enough to grow up when some of the greatest (in her opinion) comedians were nightly enjoyed on television. 

So that silly, quirky, witty, whimsical, hilarious way of looking at people and situations has always lurked in her mind ready to burst out at the least provocation. Not always appropriate and sometimes not even funny to anyone but herself. 

She was good at art and having long legs she was also good at running around. But luckily in the late 60s the National Health Service seemed happy to train nurses whose only qualification was to appear strong and healthy. So she spent four years in London and because of her minimal training allowance she embraced all the myriad free art galleries; museums; concerts and give-away theatre tickets – basically anything free. 

She then took her qualifications around the world. Starting in The Solomon Islands, then New Zealand, then outback Australian, returning eventually to her beloved New Zealand. 

In her letters home she describe the various locations, activities and local people. She had a field day with the Aussies and the Kiwis trying to explain their strange habits to her English friends and relatives. This developed a writing habit which improved her spelling, grammar and her ‘making-fun-of’ skills – although the recipient of the tales was usually herself. 

Later on joining a writing group she explained to the organizer that her only writing skill was writing aerogrammes. Luckily Barbara was encouraged to come and the wonderful world of make-believe and the versatility of the English language opened up before her. She loved it.

A group challenge to write an adult fairy story opened another magical world where anything is possible – bizarre, ridiculous, outlandish, mysterious. And ‘The Prince and the Dragon’ was born as an adult story of 5,000 odd words.

A teacher friend thought it would appeal to children once the very big words and adult themes were removed. This done Barbara tested it at the local primary school and the children did enjoyed it. The story was initially a one-off.  However some of the children were sad that Fear Less (the dragon) never made it home. He had been dreadfully homesick for over 200 years. So Barbara changed the ending to see if she could manage to write another story. She did and ‘The Journey to Dragonsneer’ was born two years later followed by the final book in the trilogy ‘Off to find the Witches’ released in September 2024.

She was advised by her book publisher that an illustration was needed every couple of paragraphs. That amounted to 50 – 60 illustrations per book. So her three picture / chapter books will have taken eight year in total to write, draw and paint.

She intends to write more children’s stories and also collections of adult short stories of her adventures, under the banner of ‘Jester Books’.