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Rebecca Sparrow

Born

Brisbane, Australia

Website

http://www.rebeccasparrow.com

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Rebecca Sparrow didn’t always want to be a writer. When she was six-years-old she wanted to be the blonde woman out of ABBA, a movie star and Mrs Donny Osmond. And then she discovered Charlie’s Angels. Rebecca spent most of 1980 running around her family’s backyard wearing a bathing suit and her mum’s high heels, armed with a Super-soaker. In her one year reign of terror she arrested her dog, Mac, 329 times.

When Rebecca was eleven, she begged her parents to send her to the Johnny Young Talent School so that she would be spotted as the obvious choice to replace Tina Arena when she left the YTT cast. Mr and Mrs Sparrow’s response to her pleas was to buy Rebecca a guitar and a book of music by some guy called Donovan (not the Jason variety). R Rebecca Sparrow didn’t always want to be a writer. When she was six-years-old she wanted to be the blonde woman out of ABBA, a movie star and Mrs Donny Osmond. And then she discovered Charlie’s Angels. Rebecca spent most of 1980 running around her family’s backyard wearing a bathing suit and her mum’s high heels, armed with a Super-soaker. In her one year reign of terror she arrested her dog, Mac, 329 times.

When Rebecca was eleven, she begged her parents to send her to the Johnny Young Talent School so that she would be spotted as the obvious choice to replace Tina Arena when she left the YTT cast. Mr and Mrs Sparrow’s response to her pleas was to buy Rebecca a guitar and a book of music by some guy called Donovan (not the Jason variety). Rebecca continued to practice lip-synching to When Doves Cry in the mirror. Her crush on Vinnie Del Tito lingered on.

When she was a teenager Rebecca auditioned to be the host of different children’s television shows. She auditioned for Wombat, Saturday Disney, played "a big sister" on a pilot for a show called Happy Families and auditioned to be a reporter on some other new show featuring a sarcastic snake puppet.

While she waited for her "big break" she took part-time after school jobs to help her afford (for example) to be able to see the movie Cocktail nine times at the cinema. She dressed up as a Christmas Tree and walked through Myer, sold handbags and wallets and books and clothing and touch lamps. She did birthday parties and baby-sitting and telemarketing and asked "Do you want fries with that?" more times than she cares to remember.

And in between all of this, she wrote. In 1993 Rebecca graduated from QUT with a Bachelor of Business (Communication) and started writing media releases, feature articles, speeches and newsletters for a living. She worked for The Australian Red Cross, The Flight Centre Group, The Nine Network and the British Millennium Commission to name a few. Her first article "The Haircut" was published in The Courier-Mail in 1995. In 1997 she found herself working as a travel writer and then editor of Trips magazine. She travelled everywhere from Kuwait to Kotakinabalu, San Diego to Southampton … and then got paid to write up her adventures. She had found her niche and a never-ending supply of hotel biros.

After three years on magazines (and a dodgy Vegas wedding under her belt), Rebecca decided to have a go at writing her first novel. The Girl Most Likely is a comedy about a former travel writer who tries to put her life back together after secretly getting married in Vegas. The novel was published by UQP in March 2003 and spent 16 consecutive weeks in the Mary Ryan’s Top 10. AFI award-winning Australian actress Pia Miranda (Looking for Alibrandi, Garage Days, Secret Life of Us) has optioned the film rights with Icon Films and hopes to turn the book into a feature film.

Rebecca’s second novel, The Year Nick McGowan Came To Stay, is the prequel to The Girl Most Likely and was released in May 2006 in Australia and April 2008 in the US. It debuted as a stage play at Brisbane’s La Boite Theatre in May 2007.

Rebecca’s third novel, Joel and Cat Set The Story Straight, was published in August 2007 and co-written with her good friend Nick Earls.

When she’s not writing novels, Rebecca writes a weekly column for The Sunday Mail newspaper and she gives motivational talks and runs writing workshops in schools and businesses across the country. Rebecca is an Ambassador of War Child Australia and The Pyjama Foundation. War Child Australia (www.warchild.org.au) is an international aid organisation dedicated to providing immediate, effective and sustainable aid to children affected by war. The Pyjama Foundation (www.theyjamafoundation.org.au) is a Brisbane-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing children in foster care the same opportunities in life as other children.

SOURCE: http://www.rebeccasparrow.com/about.a ...more

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Rebecca Sparrow's Books

Average rating: 3.68 · 2,830 ratings · 217 reviews · 8 distinct works · Similar authors

	The Year Nick McGowan Came to Stay 3.62 avg rating — 1,269 ratings — published 2006 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Girl Most Likely 3.64 avg rating — 482 ratings — published 2003 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Find Your Tribe 3.91 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 2013 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Find your feet (the 8 things I wish I’d known before I left high school) 4.12 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 2013 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ask Me Anything: (Heartfelt Answers to 65 Anonymous Questions from Teenage Girls) 3.67 avg rating — 9 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ask Me Anything: (Heartfelt Answers to 65 Anonymous Questions from Teenage Girls) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight by Nick Earls, Rebecca Sparrow 3.77 avg rating — 1,016 ratings — published 2007 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Never Forgotten: Stories of Love. Loss, and Healing After Misscarriage, Stillbirth, and Neonatal Death. by Mia Freedman, Rebecca Sparrow (With), Paula Ellery (Editor) 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Rebecca Sparrow…

Series by Rebecca Sparrow

Rachel Hill (2 books)
by Rebecca Sparrow
3.62 avg rating — 1,749 ratings

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Quotes by Rebecca Sparrow

“I don't hate you, you're just the most annoying person in my life.”
― Rebecca Sparrow, Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight

tags: humor

15 likes

“I feel like saying something back to her. Something like, 'Eat hanger, bitch.' Except that Skeletor here doesn't look like she's eaten anything at all since last October. But I don't say anything, of course. Instead I stand there and take shit from someone who looks like a praying mantis in drag.

- Cat”
― Rebecca Sparrow, Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight

9 likes

“My father is standing at the sink wearing a too-tight long-sleeved red T-Shirt, a pair of too-high jeans and sporting the type of orange glow that belongs only on Chernobyl victims. Plus his hair looks like an oil spill.

'Hey you,' he says, washing what looks to be some carrots under the sink. Are they carrots or are they parsnips reflecting the sheen of my father's tangerine skin? Hard to tell.

'You've fake tanned yourself again,' I say - it's a statement, not a question. 'Too much?' he says, innocently. 'I just didn't want to be one of those pasty office workers and I thought it wouldn't hurt to back up last week's application with another hit.'

'Dad, you look-'

'Sun kissed?'

'Radioactive. And what the hell happened to your hands?'

- Cat”
― Rebecca Sparrow, Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight

7 likes

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