Author Profile
I’ve been writing in some form or other, for most of my life. At the moment I‘m working on three books – a non-fiction collection of essays, The Secret Language of Animals, a book of short stories entitled Repentance and my third novel, Light and Shade, based on the life of the photographer Eadweard Muybridge. In the past few years I’ve also been enjoying making some video/poetry films with Australian video filmmaker Marie Craven.
‘Wanderings’ - 2018
Photographs by Ken Ball, poems by Candida Baker
MA Thesis University of Adelaide graduated 2016
‘An exploration of kijin – or eccentricity – and its traditions as an endorsed quality in Japanese art, with specific reference to the work of Yayoi Kusama and Yoko Ono.’
Editor & Contributor – 2015
Gabori – the Corrigan Collection of Sally Gabori paintings, Macmillan – 2015
Belinda the Ninja Ballerina - 2015 (children’s book)
Review: “This book is a delight, something any mother can read with her little girl and remember her own childhood. And lucky Candida Baker, having Mitch Vane to do her art! This artist is perfect for this kind of book.” Sue Bursztynski
Anthologies 1996 - 2012
The Wisdom of Women, Allen & Unwin – 2012
The Mysterious Life of Cats, Allen & Unwin – 2011
The Wonderful World of Dogs, Allen & Unwin – 2010
The Infinite Magic of Horses, Allen & Unwin – 2009
The Penguin Book of the Horse – UK 1997
The Penguin Book of the Horse – 1996
The Hidden – 2000 (novel)
The Hidden, which included Candida Baker’s photographs, was published by Knopf to critical acclaim.
Reviews
‘A rich and fluid exploration of the way the past haunts the present…a compelling, thoughtful work.’ The Sydney Morning Herald.
‘…fascinating reading…Baker’s writing is at once sharp and insightful.’ Herald Sun.
‘…a delicious mystery that visits not only a menacing and wild Australian landscape, but the ravaged emotional landscape. The plot itself is dramatic, but a finely-wrought emotional narrative curves its way around it beautifully.’ The Daily Telegraph.
The Powerful Owl - 1994 (short stories)
The Powerful Owl was published by Picador. The title story was runner-up in the Canberra Times short story competition and it has been included in numerous anthologies, most recently in 2014. The book was also runner up in the Steele Rudd short story award.
Reviews
‘Baker writes in a racily knowing tone, self-mocking, rueful and rude all at once, as if a Fay Weldon plot were written with the dark hilarity of Alice Thomas Ellis.’ The Sydney Morning Herald.
‘Baker’s strength as a writer is her ability to evoke feelings to a considerable degree of intensity and to structure her work so that you can’t put the book down.’ The Australian.
Women and Horses - 1990
Women and Horses was a runner-up in the prestigious Vogel Australian Literary Award in 1990. It was published as a hard-back Picador in Australia and in the U.S by St. Martin’s Press.
Reviews
‘There are at least two kinds of past in Candida Baker’s novel Women and Horses…both are described with sharp, comic anguish.’ The Melbourne Herald.
The Yacker Series – 1985-1995
In 1985 I embarked on a ten-year writing project, interviewing a total of 36 writers for my Yacker – Australian Writers Talk About Their Work series, based on the Paris Review interviews with writers, and published by Picador. I conducted interviews with writers such as Peter Carey, David Malouf, Helen Garrner, Kate Grenville, Randolph Stowe, Peter Porter, and in New York Sumner Locke Elliott.
Children’s books
The Little Angels Counting Book published by Penguin – 1992
I Know That, published by Box Press - 1996
Belinda the Ninja Ballerina published by Ford Street Publishing -2015.
Bibliography
Non-fiction: Yacker - Australian Writers Talk About Their Work,
Vols 1, 2 & 3, published Picador 1986, 1989, 1990 and Picador UK.
Fiction: Women and Horses, novel, Australia, Picador 1990; U.S, St. Martin's Press 1990.
Essay: Six Characters in Search of an Author - a treatise on Pirandello and creativity, Island Magazine 1991.
Fiction: The Powerful Owl, short stories, Picador 1994.
Essay: ‘The Myth of Romantic Love’, in Loves, editor Jean Bedford, Angus & Robertson 1995.
Children’s book: The Baby Angel Counting Book, Penguin, 1994.
Short story: ‘The Powerful Owl’ included in 65-95 Contemporary Classics, editor Don Anderson, Vintage, 1995.
Short story: ‘The Canvas’, Included in anthology Women, Love Sex, editor Susan Johnson, Vintage, 1996.
Editor: anthology: The Penguin Book of the Horse, published Penguin 1996.
Short story: ‘The Cut’, The Penguin Book of the Horse, editor Candida Baker, published Penguin 1996.
Essay: ‘Dear Daddy’, Fathers in Writing, editor Ross Fitzgerald, University of Western Australia Press, 1997.
Short Story: ‘City Lights’, in The Penguin Book of the City, editor Robert Drewe, Penguin 1997.
Children’s book: I Know That, published Box Press 1998.
Novel: The Hidden, published Knopf 2000
Short story, ‘Spindrift’, The Penguin Book of the Beach, Penguin 2001.
Non-fiction: The Hollow Crown - an essay on travelling with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Sunday Magazine 2002.
The Powerful Owl included in the Penguin Century of Australian stories, Penguin Books, 2000.
Anthology: The Infinite Magic of Horses, published Allen & Unwin (Inspired Living) 2009.
Anthology: The Wonderful World of Dogs, published Allen & Unwin (Inspired Living) 2010.
Anthology: The Amazing Life of Cats, published Allen & Unwin (Inspired Living) 2011.
Anthology: The Wisdom of Women, published Allen & Unwin (Inspired Living) 2012.
Non-fiction: Editor and contributor to Sally Gabori – a Life, profile of Sally Gabori in Gabori: The Sally Gabori Collection of Patrick Corrigan. Published Macmillan, 2015.
Children’s Book: Belinda the Ninja Ballerina, Ford Street Publishing, 2015.
Photography & poetry book: Wanderings with Ken Ball, published by Impressions Plus 2018.