Linda Jaivin is the bestselling author of eight books‚ including the comic–erotic cult classic Eat Me and The Infernal Optimist, which was short listed for the Australian Literature Society Gold medal (2007). Her most recent book‚ A Most Immoral Woman, is based on an incident in the life of the Australian China correspondent, George Morrison, set against the backdrop of the 1904 Russo-Japanese War. Jaivin is also a translator (from Chinese)‚ essayist and writer on Chinese politics and culture‚ which she studied at university before spending nine years in Taiwan‚ Hong Kong and China‚ studying Chinese and then working as a journalist. Her non-fiction books on China include; The Monkey and the Dragon and New Ghosts‚ Old Dreams: Chinese Rebel Voices‚ an anthology of translations co−edited with Geremie Barmé. Jaivin is currently working on the libretto for an original opera in Chinese and English, a hybrid of Peking and Western opera forms called Pan Jinlian. She is a visiting fellow in the Pacific and Asian History Division‚ Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University. She lives in Sydney. Ms Jaivin has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding advisory body.

Photo credit: Andrzej Liguz