Astrid Edwards is a writer, teacher, podcaster and director.
She is one half of Bad Producer Productions, a podcast company with eight successful (and three awarded) podcasts to date.
Astrid is a bibliophile. She is the host of Anonymous Was A Woman and The Garret: Writers on Writing and has interviewed more than 100 of the best writers in Australia, including Michelle de Kretser, David Malouf, Leigh Sales, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Benjamin Law, Ali Cobby Eckermann and Tony Birch. You can also read Astrid's book reviews in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Future Women, Kill Your Darlings and Australian Book Review.
Astrid currently coordinates the Associate Degree of Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT University. She is the Deputy Chair of Melbourne Writers Festival, and previously served as the Deputy Chair of Writers Victoria.
Astrid judges 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.
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.
Astrid is one of the founding members of the Book Industry Climate Action Group. Before embarking on this creative storytelling career, Astrid was an economics and policy consultant for almost a decade. She specialised in climate and environmental 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.