Helen Hopcroft is an artist, writer and producer based in Maitland, NSW. She holds an MA in Painting from London’s Royal College of Art, and a Creative Writing PhD from the University of Newcastle, Australia. She is probably best known for spending a year dressed as Marie Antoinette for a piece of performance art titled My Year as a Fairy Tale.
Helen has written non-fiction books for the University of Newcastle and Hunter Valley Grammar School, with her publication list including The Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald, Art Monthly and The Griffith Review. She recently won a Writing NSW Access for Regional Writers grant and was selected for a Radio National’s Tony Birch masterclass. She has been shortlisted for the 2022 and 2023 Newcastle Writers Festival Joanne Burns Microlit Award, and for the 2022 Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing.
Helen is the vocalist and storyteller for The Majishans, an art rock band who recently performed at The Alex Theatre for St Kilda Writers Festival. She occasionally writes reviews for ArtsHub.com and produces theatre shows like Mad Bitches Inc. and Strange Men.