Wendy Harmer
Encyclopedia
Wendy Harmer is an Australia
n author
, writer
, radio show host, and comedienne.
, including Bendigo, Selby
, and Geelong, where she studied Journalism at the Gordon Institute of Technology and became a reporter at the Geelong Advertiser. Her journalistic career took her to Melbourne
, where she worked for The Sun
newspaper and was introduced to a comedy group performing at the Flying Trapeze comedy venue. This group included Ian McFadyen
, Mary-Anne Fahey
, Peter Moon
, and Jane Turner
, who asked Harmer to join the group after performing some of the scripts she had written for them.
Not long after, Harmer was headlining her own shows at the Last Laugh theatre restaurant, owned by entrepreneur John Pinder
and later by Rick McKenna. The shows included masterpieces of Australian comedy, including Faking It, Sunburn Bloody Sunburn, and Sunburn the Day After, which included the group from the Flying Trapeze and, amongst others, Mark Neale, Richard Stubbs
, and Steve Vizard
.
Harmer first appreared on television in The Gillies Report
, along with John Clarke
, Phillip Scott
, Tracy Harvey
, Geoff Kelso, Peter Moon, and Marcus Eye. Harmer went on to host her own show on ABC TV, The Big Gig
, including, amongst others, performers Glynn Nicholas
, Rod Quantock
, Greg Fleet
, and Jean Kittson
.
Harmer is currently Editor in Chief of TheHoopla.com.au, a newly-launched news and opinion site for Australian women.
, hosting the highly rated breakfast radio show The Morning Crew for 11 years.
, Harmer is the author of seven books for adults: It's a Joke, Joyce (1989), Backstage Pass (1991), Love Gone Wrong (1995), So anyway--: Wendy’s words of wisdom (1997) (a collection of her weekly columns from the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Weekend Magazine), Farewell My Ovaries (2005), Nagging for Beginners (2006), and Love and Punishment (2006). Harmer's third novel, Roadside Sisters, will be published in April 2009.
Harmer's books have been described as being in the genre of chick lit
or hen lit
, aimed at appealing to “women zapping a Lean Cuisine in the microwave and looking for an emotional connection.” They are popular light novels, and very humorous.
Harmer has also written a series of children's books called the Pearlie the Park Fairy series. There are 11 books in the Pearlie series published to date. They are bestsellers in Australia, and have been published in ten countries around the world. The animated series Pearlie
has been shown on Australian, Canadian, and American television, and Harmer has adapted the first book in the series, Pearlie in the Park, for the stage. In 2005, this play toured around Australia, performed by the Monkey Baa theatre company.
I Lost My Mobile at the Mall (2009) is Harmer's first novel for teens.
In addition to the Pearlie in the Park adaptation, Harmer has written two plays, Backstage Pass and What Is the Matter With Mary Jane? She also wrote the libretto
for Baz Luhrmann
’s Opera Australia
production of Lake Lost.
She has written for numerous Australian magazines, and has been a contributing columnist for Australian Women's Weekly
, New Weekly
, The Good Weekend, and HQ.
Harmer contributed to Marie Claire
’s What Women Want in 2002, My Sporting Hero, edited by Greg Gowden and published by Random House
Australia, and a volume of The Best Ever Sports Writing . . . 200 Years of Sport Writing.
from 1993 to 1994. Harmer hosted the Logie Awards of 2002
, and was caught up in widespread media criticism of the event, with some focusing on her personal performance. In 2005, Harmer was the subject of an ABC Australian Story
episode. Stuff, a four-part television documentary series which Harmer produced, wrote, and presented, premiered on ABC TV
in 2008. The same year, Harmer commenced writing for the animated series Pearlie
, based on her series of books. Harmer wrote many of the episodes, acted as a creative producer on the series, and even made a cameo appearance as Astrid the Dream Fairy.
.
, of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
's Angels, the women supporters' group for the local Rugby League
club.
In 1992, she was awarded the Douglas Wilkie Medal
by the Anti-Football League
for services to non-football.
Harmer has two brothers, Phillip Brown and Noel Brown, and a sister, Helen Brown.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, radio show host, and comedienne.
Early life and career
The daughter of Graham Frederick Brown and Margaret Elsie Brown (née Wicks), Harmer grew up in small country towns in VictoriaVictoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, including Bendigo, Selby
Selby, Victoria
Selby is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 37 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Yarra Ranges...
, and Geelong, where she studied Journalism at the Gordon Institute of Technology and became a reporter at the Geelong Advertiser. Her journalistic career took her to Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, where she worked for The Sun
The Sun News-Pictorial
The Sun News-Pictorial, commonly known as The Sun, was a morning daily tabloid newspaper in Melbourne, Australia established in 1922 and closed in 1990.It was part of The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd stable of Melbourne newspapers...
newspaper and was introduced to a comedy group performing at the Flying Trapeze comedy venue. This group included Ian McFadyen
Ian McFadyen
Ian McFadyen is an Australian writer, actor, and director. He is best known as the producer and performer on the Australian television series The Comedy Company which ran from 16 February 1988 to 11 November 1990...
, Mary-Anne Fahey
Mary-Anne Fahey
Mary-Anne Fahey is an Australian actor, comedian and writer.-Biography:Fahey has starred in and written for comedy programs including The Comedy Company, Kittson, Fahey , Get a Life and One Size Fits All...
, Peter Moon
Peter Moon (comedian)
Peter Moon is an Australian comedian, best known for writing and performing in the sketch comedy Fast Forward....
, and Jane Turner
Jane Turner
Jane Turner is an Australian actress, comedian and Logie Award winning comedy writer.Turner has appeared in many popular Australian TV programs, namely Prisoner in a straight dramatic role, with comedy roles in sketch comedy programs The D-Generation, Fast Forward, Full Frontal, Big Girl's Blouse...
, who asked Harmer to join the group after performing some of the scripts she had written for them.
Not long after, Harmer was headlining her own shows at the Last Laugh theatre restaurant, owned by entrepreneur John Pinder
John Pinder
John Pinder, born 6 January 1945 in Timaru on the South Island of New Zealand, is an Australian comedy producer and festival director who has produced band performances, run live venues and founded three Australian comedy festivals...
and later by Rick McKenna. The shows included masterpieces of Australian comedy, including Faking It, Sunburn Bloody Sunburn, and Sunburn the Day After, which included the group from the Flying Trapeze and, amongst others, Mark Neale, Richard Stubbs
Richard Stubbs
Richard Stubbs is an Australian comedian who was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne.Stubbs started his career in radio in the early 1980s on 3XY as part of the XYZoo team. He appeared on Eon/MMM Fm with Tim Smith, Bridgette Duclos and Brad Mckenzie...
, and Steve Vizard
Steve Vizard
Stephen William Vizard, born 6 March 1956 in Richmond, Victoria, is an Australian media personality, comedian, businessman and writer.-Early life:...
.
Harmer first appreared on television in The Gillies Report
The Gillies Report
The Gillies Report was an Australian satirical television series that was broadcast on the ABC between 1984 and 1985. The program was notorious for sending up politicians and media personalities of the day such as Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Opposition Leader Andrew Peacock.The show starred Max...
, along with John Clarke
John Clarke (satirist)
John Morrison Clarke is a New Zealand-born Australian comedian, writer, and satirist. He was born in Palmerston North, New Zealand, and has lived in Australia since the late 1970s...
, Phillip Scott
Phillip Scott
Phillip Scott , is an Australian actor, singer, pianist, writer and comedian.He has appeared on film as well as in sketch comedy television programs...
, Tracy Harvey
Tracy Harvey
Tracy Harvey is a comedian, TV presenter, actor and writer from Melbourne, Australia.Tracy was a member of the alternative comedy breakfast panel radio show Punter to Punter with Trevor Marmalade and Dr Turf...
, Geoff Kelso, Peter Moon, and Marcus Eye. Harmer went on to host her own show on ABC TV, The Big Gig
The Big Gig
The Big Gig was a popular Australian television comedy series based on the British TV series Saturday Live. It was produced and broadcast by the ABC in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was produced and directed by Ted Robinson, who started his career as the director of the second series of the...
, including, amongst others, performers Glynn Nicholas
Glynn Nicholas
Glynn Nicholas is an Australian comedy performer, writer and producer. He works as a stand-up comedian, mime artist, character actor and musician.-Busking:Glynn Nicholas began as a busker while touring Europe in 1977...
, Rod Quantock
Rod Quantock
Rod Quantock is an Australian stand-up comedian and writer. He is known for his peculiar style of stand-up comedy, which is often politically driven, as well as being the face of bed retailer Capt'n Snooze for many years...
, Greg Fleet
Greg Fleet
-Early life:Greg was born in Michigan, United States. His father moved the family to Australia when Greg was four. He grew up in Geelong and as a teenager boarded at Geelong Grammar School...
, and Jean Kittson
Jean Kittson
Jean Kittson is an Australian performer, writer and comedian in theatre and print, on radio and television. She made her comedy debut at Melbourne’s comedy venue Le Joke in a series of solo performances, and then in the stage version of Let The Blood Run Free.- Television :Kittson is best known...
.
Harmer is currently Editor in Chief of TheHoopla.com.au, a newly-launched news and opinion site for Australian women.
2DAY FM
In 1993, Harmer joined 2Day FM2Day FM
Not to be mixed up with Today FM in Ireland.2Day FM is a commercial FM radio station broadcasting in Sydney, Australia, on a frequency of 104.1 MHz, and part of Austereo's Today Network.- Transmission :...
, hosting the highly rated breakfast radio show The Morning Crew for 11 years.
Vega FM
In September 2005, Harmer started as the host of the new Sydney and Melbourne radio station Vega FM, but by March 2006, she had quit her morning show after creative differences with management.Writing credits
A former political journalistJournalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, Harmer is the author of seven books for adults: It's a Joke, Joyce (1989), Backstage Pass (1991), Love Gone Wrong (1995), So anyway--: Wendy’s words of wisdom (1997) (a collection of her weekly columns from the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Weekend Magazine), Farewell My Ovaries (2005), Nagging for Beginners (2006), and Love and Punishment (2006). Harmer's third novel, Roadside Sisters, will be published in April 2009.
Harmer's books have been described as being in the genre of chick lit
Chick lit
Chick lit is genre fiction which addresses issues of modern womanhood, often humorously and lightheartedly. The genre sold well during the 1990s and 2000s, with chick lit titles topping bestseller lists and the creation of imprints devoted entirely to chick lit...
or hen lit
Matron literature
Matron literature is a literary genre which focuses on older female characters as protagonists. The genre has increased in popularity as the baby boomers have aged and female readers have sought characters to identify with. Subjects are often romantic in nature, and heroines are usually between...
, aimed at appealing to “women zapping a Lean Cuisine in the microwave and looking for an emotional connection.” They are popular light novels, and very humorous.
Harmer has also written a series of children's books called the Pearlie the Park Fairy series. There are 11 books in the Pearlie series published to date. They are bestsellers in Australia, and have been published in ten countries around the world. The animated series Pearlie
Pearlie
Pearlie is a 2009 Australian-Canadian-American animated comedy series based on the children's book series Pearlie the Park Fairy by Wendy Harmer. Pearlie is a co-production between Australian children's television producer Sticky Pictures and Canadian animation house Nelvana...
has been shown on Australian, Canadian, and American television, and Harmer has adapted the first book in the series, Pearlie in the Park, for the stage. In 2005, this play toured around Australia, performed by the Monkey Baa theatre company.
I Lost My Mobile at the Mall (2009) is Harmer's first novel for teens.
In addition to the Pearlie in the Park adaptation, Harmer has written two plays, Backstage Pass and What Is the Matter With Mary Jane? She also wrote the libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
for Baz Luhrmann
Baz Luhrmann
Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...
’s Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
production of Lake Lost.
She has written for numerous Australian magazines, and has been a contributing columnist for Australian Women's Weekly
Australian Women's Weekly
The Australian Women's Weekly is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by ACP Magazines, a division of PBL Media based in Sydney. Audited circulation in 2009 exceeded 500,000 copies monthly, making it the largest magazine in Australia.-History:...
, New Weekly
New Weekly
NW magazine is a weekly magazine published in Australia. It offers articles about media celebrities, Hollywood gossip, clothing, makeup, dieting, and entertainment. New Weekly was started by 1993 by then Australian Consolidated Press executive Richard Walsh, with a renaming to NW in 1998. ...
, The Good Weekend, and HQ.
Harmer contributed to Marie Claire
Marie Claire
Marie Claire is a monthly women's magazine first published in France but also distributed in other countries with editions specific to them and in their languages. While each country shares its own special voice with its audience, the United States edition focuses on women around the world and...
’s What Women Want in 2002, My Sporting Hero, edited by Greg Gowden and published by Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
Australia, and a volume of The Best Ever Sports Writing . . . 200 Years of Sport Writing.
Television credits
Harmer was the host of the TV series The Big Gig, had her own TV chat show in 1990, In Harmer's Way, and co-starred in the World Series Debate with Andrew DentonAndrew Denton
Andrew Christopher Denton is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie-nominated television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television interview program Enough Rope. He is known for his comedy and interviewing technique...
from 1993 to 1994. Harmer hosted the Logie Awards of 2002
Logie Awards of 2002
The 44th Annual TV Week Logie Awards were presented on Sunday 28 April 2002 at Crown Casino in Melbourne and broadcast on the Nine Network. Wendy Harmer from the Sydney radio station 2Day FM was the Master of Ceremonies.The ratings of the 2002 logie awards averaged around 1,865,000 and ranked at #5...
, and was caught up in widespread media criticism of the event, with some focusing on her personal performance. In 2005, Harmer was the subject of an ABC Australian Story
Australian Story
Australian Story is a national weekly documentary series, produced and broadcast on ABC Television.Since 1996 Australian Story has featured many Australians from diverse backgrounds and reputations...
episode. Stuff, a four-part television documentary series which Harmer produced, wrote, and presented, premiered on ABC TV
ABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
in 2008. The same year, Harmer commenced writing for the animated series Pearlie
Pearlie
Pearlie is a 2009 Australian-Canadian-American animated comedy series based on the children's book series Pearlie the Park Fairy by Wendy Harmer. Pearlie is a co-production between Australian children's television producer Sticky Pictures and Canadian animation house Nelvana...
, based on her series of books. Harmer wrote many of the episodes, acted as a creative producer on the series, and even made a cameo appearance as Astrid the Dream Fairy.
Advocacy
Harmer is one of 28 members of the National People with Disabilities and Careers Council (NPWDACC), whose main goals are to advise the Australian Government on the development of the National Disability Strategy. She is also the ambassador for InterplastInterplast
Interplast, now called ReSurge International, is the first international humanitarian organization to provide free reconstructive surgery in developing countries, primarily to children with cleft lip and palate and burn scar contractures....
.
Personal
Harmer is married to Brendan and has two children. She is a co-founder, along with super model Sarah MurdochSarah Murdoch
Sarah Murdoch is an Australian model and actress.-Career:Brought up in Sydney, Australia, Murdoch attended The McDonald College of the Performing Arts, a performing arts school in Sydney, where she studied ballet...
, of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...
's Angels, the women supporters' group for the local Rugby League
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
club.
In 1992, she was awarded the Douglas Wilkie Medal
Douglas Wilkie Medal
The Douglas Wilkie Medal is an award presented to those who do the least for Australian rules football, in the best and fairest manner. An accolade presented by the Anti-Football League, it is named after Douglas Wilkie, a Sun News-Pictorial columnist who wrote for the paper during the years...
by the Anti-Football League
Anti-Football League
The Anti-Football League is an Australian organisation that pokes fun at the obsession with Australian Rules Football. It was founded by Melbourne journalist Keith Dunstan in 1967...
for services to non-football.
Harmer has two brothers, Phillip Brown and Noel Brown, and a sister, Helen Brown.