Kathy Lette

Kathy Lette divides her time between being a full time writer, demented mother (now there's a tautology) and trying to find a shopping trolley that doesn't have a clubbed wheel.

Kathy first achieved succés de scandale as a teenager with the novel Puberty Blues, which was made into a major film, directed by Bruce Beresford and an 8 hour mini series.

After several years as a singer with the Salami Sisters and a newspaper columnist in Sydney and New York (collected in the book Hit and Ms) and as a television sitcom writer for Columbia Pictures in Los Angeles, her novels, Puberty Blues, Girls Night Out, The Llama Parlour, Foetal Attraction, Mad Cows, Altar Ego, Nip'N'Tuck, Dead Sexy and How To Kill Your Husband (and Other Handy Household Hints) (recently staged by The Victorian Opera, Australia) became international best-sellers.

Her novels have been published in 14 languages around the world. Kathy appears regularily as a guest on the BBC and Sky news. Kathy Lette's plays include "Grommits", "Wet Dreams", "Perfect Mismatch" and "I'm So Happy For You I Really Am." Her latest non-fiction book is"Men - A User's Guide."

She lives in London with her husband and two children. Career highlights include a stint as writer in Residence at London's Savoy Hotel, receiving an honorary doctorate from Solent Southampton University in 2010 and teaching Stephen Fry a word. (Misogamist. Look it up.)

Kathy is also an ambassador for Women and Children First, Plan International and The White Ribbon Alliance.

"The best thing about being a writer," she says, " is that you get to work in your jammies all day, drink heavily on the job and have affairs and call it research. (Although her husband says he should have the affair as it would give her a better book.)