Mother’’s Day

Leone Sperling was born in Sydney in 1937, attended Sydney Girls’ High School and graduated from Sydney University with a BA Honours degree in English literature. She taught English full-time with the NSW Department of TAFE for twenty years, a career that she found rewarding and fulfilling. She regards the fact that she did find time to write as a minor miracle because her marriage ended when her children were very young. Three books, Coins for the Ferryman, Mother’s Day and Oasis were published between 1981 and 1990. She was awarded a Literature Board grant in 1985. She has also had several short stories and articles published in national newspapers and Australian anthologies. These are now collected in The Book of Life. After taking early retirement she wrote two novels, What About Love? and Jamie. She then undertook a four-year naturopathic Diploma in Nutrition. Leone now enjoys close, mutually rewarding relationships with her four children and six grandchildren and studies Latin with Continuing Education at Sydney University. Severe hearing impairment has resulted in the need for a Cochlear implant. For several years Leone has been on the Management Committee of Better Hearing Australia’s Sydney branch and spends a considerable amount of time as a research volunteer with Cochlear and with the National Acoustic Laboratories. Leone’s writing is open and honest. Her style is spare and simple but constantly displays a willingness to confront and examine both the joyful and the darker aspects of human emotions and relationships.