Helen Hopcroft

Helen Hopcroft is an artist, writer and producer based in Maitland, NSW. She holds a MA in Painting from London’s Royal College of Art, and a Creative Writing PhD from the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Helen has written two non-fiction books for the University of Newcastle and Hunter Valley Grammar School. She recently won an NSW Writers Centre’s Access for Regional Writers grant and was selected for Radio National’s Tony Birch masterclass. Her publication list includes The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, Griffith Review and Art Monthly. She occasionally writes reviews for ArtsHub.com

In 2107-2018, Helen spent a year dressed as Marie Antoinette, in full replica costume 24/7, for a piece of performance art titled My Year as a Fairy Tale. She is now writing a memoir about the experience. American novelist Debra Spark wrote about Helen’s performance in her latest book, And Then Something Happened: https://www.awpwriter.org/magazine_media/writers_chronicle_view/4702/writing_in_a_time_of_disaster

During the early stages of writing her memoir, Helen was mentored by Kathryn Heyman, a highly regarded writer and teacher.

Helen’s recent production credits include the hit cabaret show, Mad Bitches Inc., which she describes as her ‘gender equity tantrum’, and The Road to Tibooburra, a new Australian musical written by Julien Poulson with a score by Steve Kilbey (The Church). Proudly supported by City of Newcastle, Mad Bitches Inc. will be part of the 2022 New Annual Festival.

Helen is the vocalist and spoken word poet for The Majishans, a band that launched its Nashville show at Newcastle Fringe Festival in March 2022. She has just been shortlisted for Spineless Wonders and Newcastle Writers Festival’s 2022 Joanne Burns Microlit award, and the prestigious Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing.