Wendy Harmer

Wendy Harmer (born October 10, 1955 in Yarram, Victoria) is an Australian author, writer, radio show host and comedienne.

2DAY FM

In 1993 Harmer joined 2Day FM, hosting the high rating breakfast radio show The Morning Crew for 11 years.^[1]

Vega FM

In September 2005 Harmer started as the host of new Sydney and Melbourne radio station Vega FM but by March 2006 she quit her morning show after creative differences with management.^[2]

Writing Credits

A former political journalist, Wendy is the author of seven books for adults: It's a Joke, Joyce (1989), Backstage Pass (1991), Love Gone Wrong(1995), So anyway-- : Wendy’s words of wisdom (1997) (a collection of her weekly columns from The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Weekend Magazine), Farewell My Ovaries (2005), Nagging for Beginners (2006), Love and Punishment (2006). Wendy's third novel Roadside Sisters will be published in April 2009.

Harmer's books have been described as being in the genre of Chick lit or Hen lit, aimed at appealing to "women zapping a Lean Cuisine in the microwave and looking for an emotional connection".^[3] They are popular light novels and very humorous.

Wendy Harmer has also written a series for young readers called the Pearlie in the Park books. They are bestsellers in Australia and have been published in ten countries around the world. The animated Pearlie series has screened on Australian TV.

I Lost My Mobile at the Mall (2009) is Wendy's first novel for teens.

Wendy has written two plays,^[4] and a series of children's books in the Pearlie the Park Fairy series. There are 11 books in the Pearlie series published to date, and Harmer has adapted Pearlie in the Park for the stage. In 2005 the stage version was toured around Australia by the Monkey Baa theatre company.^[5]

She has written for numerous Australian magazines and has been a contributing columnist for Australian Women's Weekly, New Weekly, The Good Weekend and HQ.

Wendy contributed to Marie Claire’s What Women Want in 2002, My Sporting Hero edited by Greg Gowden which was published by Random House Australia and a volume of The Best Ever Sports Writing . . . 200 Years of Sport Writing. She wrote the libretto for Baz Luhrmann’s Opera Australia production of Lake Lost.

Television credits

Wendy was the host of the TV series The Big Gig, co-starred in the World Series Debate with Andrew Denton in 1993/94 and in 1990 she had her own TV chat show, In Harmer's Way. Wendy hosted the Logie Awards of 2002 and was caught up in widespread media criticism of the event, with some focusing on her personal performance.^[6]^[7] Stuff, a four-part television documentary series which Wendy produced, wrote and presented, premiered on ABC TV in 2008. In 2005 Wendy was the subject of an ABC Australian Story episode. In 2008, Wendy commenced writing on the animated series Pearlie [1], based on her series of books. Wendy wrote many of the episodes, acting as a creative producer on the series and even appeared in her own cameo as Astrid the Dream Fairy.

Advocacy

Wendy is one of 28 members of the National People with Disabilities and Carers Council (NPWDACC) whose main goals are to advise the Australian Government on the development of the National Disability Strategy. She is the ambassador for Interplast.

Personal

Wendy is married to Brendan and has two children. She is co-founder, with super model Sarah Murdoch, of the women supporters' group for the local Rugby League club the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles's Angels.

She was awarded the Douglas Wilkie Medal for services to non-football, by the Anti-Football League, in 1992.

Notes

^ "Speaker Details - Wendy Harmer". Saxton Speakers Bureau. http://www.saxton.com.au/default.asp?sd8=1448. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
^ "Fed: Wendy Harmer leaves Vega", AAP, March 3, 2006, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-119291878.html
^ Fowler, Karen Joy (August 13, 2005), "Putting the chick into lit", The Age, http://www.theage.com.au/news/books/putting-the-chick-into-lit/2005/08/11/1123353432397.html
^ "Plays by Wendy Harmer". The Playwrights Database. http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsH/harmer-wendy.html. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
^ "Wendy Harmer's Pearlie in the Park". Monkey Baa. http://monkeybaa.com.au/pearlie-in-the-park.html. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
^ Warneke, Ross (May 2, 2002), "Ho hum, another night at the dreary Logies", The Age, http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/05/02/1019441402919.html
^ "Logies host bites back", ABIX (Australian Business Intelligence), April 30, 2002, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-85255222.html

External links

v • d • e Hosts of the Logie Awards

Hugh O'Brien (1960) · Gerald Lyons (1962) · Gerald Lyons (1965) · Bert Newton (1967–1980) · Michael Parkinson (1981) · Bert Newton (1982) · Mike Willesee (1983) · Bert Newton (1984) · Greg Evans (1985) · Mike Willesee (1986) · Don Lane (1987) · Daryl Somers (1988) · Bert Newton (1989) · Mark Mitchell (1990) · Daryl Somers (1991) · Steve Vizard (1992) · Bert Newton (1993) · Ray Martin (1994) · Andrew Daddo and Noni Hazlehurst (1995) · Daryl Somers (1996–1998) · Andrew Denton (1999–2000) Shaun Micallef (2001) · Wendy Harmer (2002) · Eddie McGuire (2003–2004) · Eddie McGuire, Rove McManus and Andrew O'Keefe (2005) · Bert Newton, Ray Martin, Daryl Somers, Lisa McCune and Georgie Parker (2006) · Adam Hills, Dave Hughes and Fifi Box (2007) · Various hosts (2008) · Gretel Killeen (2009) · Bert Newton (2010)

Logie Awards