Suzanne Covich spent her early years in a large family in the country, leaving school unwillingly at 13 to work in an old people’s home. After entering university in her mid-30s as a single mother, she went on to obtain a PhD in Creative Writing at Edith Cowan University. She now works as a high-school teacher and was the first Australian to win two National Excellence in Teaching Awards (NEITA). Her work has been performed on ABC Radio National and published in major Australian journals including Quadrant, Meanjin, Island, Southern Review and Northern Perspective. She is a public speaker and child rights activist, and, in 2002, initiated and edited an anthology of student art photography and writing: A Circle in a Room Full of Squares.