Sara Hardy grew up with the sound of her father rehearsing in the front room - arias, scales, songs - and assumed that singing was a natural part of life. She trained at Dartington College of Arts (UK) and has worked as an actress and playwright for most of her life. She was inspired to write her first biography, The Unusual Life of Edna Walling (A&U, 2005), after having portrayed the famous landscape designer in a theatre performance. Sara was awarded the inaugural Peter Blazey Fellowship, a writer's residence at the University of Melbourne, in 2004 for her work on Edna Walling. Dame Joan Hammond is her second biography.