Astrid Edwards is an interviewer, teacher, writer and advocate.
She is one half of Bad Producer Productions, an independent Australian podcast network specialising in arts, comedy and sport podcasts. Astrid is also the Chair of Melbourne Writers Festival and coordinates the Associate Degree of Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT University. She is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Astrid is a bibliophile. She is the host of The Garret: Writers on Writing, as well as the co-host of Anonymous Was A Woman with Jamila Rizvi and the Future Women and Hachette Book Club. In 2020 and 2021 Astrid was also the host of the State Library of Victoria's online Afternoon Tea and Talk series.
Astrid is a Member of the Victorian Disability Advisory Council advising the Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers and sits on the Department of Health and Human Service's COVID-19 Accessible Communications for People with Disability Reference Group. Astrid is also a National Advocate for MS Australia.
In 2021 Astrid is a contributor to the anthology Growing Up Disabled in Australia. You can also read her book reviews in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Future Women, Kill Your Darlings and Australian Book Review.
Astrid previously served as the Deputy Chair of Writers Victoria. She has also judged literary prizes, including the Victorian Government's Quill for Reporting on Disability in 2020 and the Sidney Neilma Literary Travel Grant in 2019. She has also judged the Aurealis Awards (Australia's premier speculative fiction awards) three times since 2016. She is a former Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellow.
Before embarking on this creative storytelling career, Astrid was an economics and policy consultant for almost a decade. She specialised in climate and social policy, and to this day she is trying to figure out how stories can help to save the planet.
Astrid is a member of Mensa Australia. You can track her reading on Goodreads or find a much longer bio here.
