Candida Baker is a writer, editor, photographer, journalist and natural horsemanship practitioner. Candida is the author of two novels, Women and Horses and The Hidden and an award-winning book of short stories, The Powerful Owl. Candida’s latest book, The Heart of a Horse, was published by Murdoch Books in 2021, and her next novel, Light and Shadow, will be published in 2026. Candida is also well known for her series of non-fiction books entitled Yacker – Australian Writers Talk About Their Work, published by Picador in Australia and the UK, and her most recent series of anthologies – The Infinite Magic of Horses, The Wonderful World of Dogs and The Amazing Life of Cats and The Wisdom of Women, which were published by Allen & Unwin. She has also written several children’s books, including Belinda the Ninja Ballerina, and her stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. She reviews fiction and non-fiction regularly for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.She is president of an equine charity, Equus Alliance, and she runs an FB page, The Horse Listener. She is on instagram as Candidabaker 1, and has an author page on FB as well.

As a journalist Candida has held numerous positions on Australia’s major publications.  She was a feature writer with the Melbourne Age for seven years; deputy editor of the Good Weekend magazine; arts editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and editor of The Weekend Australian Magazine,  a position she held for five years.  She regularly reviews books and writes features for a variety of magazines and newspapers.

After a move to the north coast of New South Wales Candida concentrated on her photography for some years, appearing in numerous groups exhibitions and winning several prizes. Her photography features on her website, and her images are available in a variety of materials and sizes, all custom-made to order. Candida has supplied people worldwide with her prints. Her photographs have appeared in her novel The Hidden, itself about a photographer, and in her animal series of anthologies.

Candida has been a horse lover all her life. Her interest in them and love for them, has led her to natural horsemanship or horse ‘whispering’ which she has now morphed into her own version of horse ‘listening’. Over the past twenty years she has rescued numerous horses, all of whom have gone on to happy homes. She is also an Equine Facilitated Learning pracitioner, and uses essential oil therapy combined with EFL therapy for both horses and humans.

Candida lives on Anaiwan country, near Armidale in the Tablelands of New South Wales.