Jeri Kroll was born and grew up in New York City, but she spent ten summers
in the Catskill Mountains at camp pretending she wasn't a city person. She
has travelled widely in Europe and began her academic career in the UK and
the US before moving to Australia in 1978.
Jeri's hectic life is divided between her job, writing,
family and horses. She has a son, two stepchildren, five horses, three dogs,
two cats and not much spare time - a fact her husband Jeff Chilton often points
out to her. In her second teenagerhood, she has been involved in the Fleurieu
Pony Club for a number of years. Although she still gets really nervous, she
showjumps and does a bit of one-day eventing.
Jeri wrote her first poems when she was eight, encouraged
by her sister, Judith Kroll, who is also a writer and academic. Jeri began
her writing career by publishing books of poems and stories for adults. When
she had her own child, she read to him all the time. Then she decided to try
writing a picture book herself.
Dr Jeri Kroll received an honours BA from Smith College
(1967), an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick in the UK (1968)
and a Ph D from Columbia University (1974). She wrote her dissertation on Samuel
Beckett's early fiction. After teaching in the US and England, she moved to
Adelaide in 1978, where she has taught at Flinders and Adelaide Universities
and the former South Australian College of Advanced Education.
In addition, she worked for several years at Radio University
5UV producing Writers' Radio and Authors' Proof as well as Wordwaves. She freelanced
from 1986-1993 as a writer and community artsworker, undertaking numerous residencies
with local councils and organisations. In 1991 she held a Community Writer's
Fellowship from the Literature Board of the Australia Council.
At present she is Associate Professor of English at Flinders
University and Program Coordinator of Creative Writing. She has published articles
on Samuel Beckett, contemporary poetry and the pedagogy of creative writing
as well as on children's literature.
Jeri has received numerous state and federal grants
as well as awards. She has written 22 books of poetry and fiction for adults
and young people; some of them have been published in Canada, New Zealand, Korea,
the UK and the US. Her first poetry collection, Death as Mr Right , won
second prize in the Anne Elder Award. It was followed by Indian Movies,
Monster Love and House Arrest, as well as The Electrolux Man
and Other Stories. She is the author of numerous picture books, including
Swamp Soup and A Coat of Cats , both Children's Book Council Notable
Books (1996, 1999). Her fiction includes two older reader novels, Bruise
and Goliath, and three young adult titles, Better Than Blue, Beyond
Blue and the newest, Riding the Blues, which came out in 2001. Fit
For a Prince, a SOLO chapter book, came out that year as well.
Her latest releases in 2004 are a novel for upper-primary/lower
secondary children, Mickey's Little Book of Letters, and a collection
of poems, The Mother Workshops.
Jeri can be booked for appearances through her agent
Carole Carroll.
