Valerie Parv
International best-selling author, Valerie Parv, has sold more than twenty-nine million copies of her books which have been translated into languages as diverse as Russian, Japanese and Icelandic. She holds a master of arts from Queensland University of Technology, and is the first Australian author to receive a Pioneer of Romance Award for her contributions to the field of romance writing, presented by RT Book Reviews Magazine New York in 2011.
Valerie has received of a number of awards for her community contributions and dedication to helping new writers. In 1988, she was awarded a Bicentennial Medallion from the Society of Women Writers, Australia. During the 2001 Centenary of Federation, Valerie was honoured with a figure in the Peoplescape, a unique art installation celebrating the lives of notable Australians. A life-size figure representing her achievements was displayed among a gallery of 2,000 such figures on the lawns of Old Parliament House, Canberra.
In 2004 she was recognised by the Chief Minister of the ACT Government for her work following the devastating Canberra bushfires when she arranged for over 2,000 new books to be signed and donated by her fellow authors around the world to community members who had lost everything in the fires.
The State Library of New South Wales archives Valerie's papers, including manuscripts of her works and correspondence.
She mentors new writers through the Valerie Parv Award, created in her honour by Romance Writers of Australia.
In 2012 Valerie will be the Established Writer in Residence at the Katharine Susannah Pritchard Writers Centre in Western Australia.
Valerie has been an Australia Day Ambassador to Goulburn, Mulwaree, Harden, Grenfell, Cooma and Armidale.
More information including a complete list of Valerie's books are at www.valerieparv.com. Follow Valerie on Twitter @valerieparv and blog valerieparv.wordpress.com