latest news

Hello, thanks for dropping by!

2008 is looking to be an exciting year for me with three of my projects coming to fruition.

The Pearlie in the Park TV series is now well into production and will be made this year by Sticky Pictures and the esteemed Canadian animation company Nelvana, which has produced some of my own children’s favourite animated series -The Fairy Odd Parents, Babar, Franklin, George Shrinks and Rolie Polie Olie.

The series will air in 2009 in Canada and here in Australia for Channel 10. The writing of all 52 (!) episodes is going at full bore and is being overseen here by Stu Connolly. The director on the project is Mike Zarb who illustrated the first three Pearlie books. Co-illustrator Gypsy Taylor is also a part of the design team, I’m pleased to announce.

The Pearlie books are sold in eight languages world-wide, including Catalan, Portuguese and Russian, Greek and now Hebrew! Some 365 thousand Pearlie books have been sold with the tenth in the series “Pearlie and the Fairy Queen” now in production.

It seems I spend all day visiting other people’s web sites and never get around to tidying my own corner of the web – a bit like the top chef who lives on toasted sandwiches!

I have just sent my latest novel “Byron or Bust” off to the editors and feel the same as some of my girlfriends who have grown children who have left for their first trip to Europe. Although I know soon enough it will be back needing all kids of care and attention after sustaining a fewl cuts  and bruises from the editors.

The novel charts the trip of three middle-aged women – Nina, Annie and Meredith – who climb aboard the mighty RoadMaster Royale motorhome for an epic voyage from Melbourne to Byron Bay to attend a wedding.

The novel is about the friendship they forge along the way – a journey of self-discovery of course.

So without my 83,000 word baby am I an empty nester? Not quite – I am working away on the animated series of  Pearlie in the Park which is projected to show on Channel 10 next year and then on Nickelodeon. The books have now been translated into many languages – the latest being Indonesian and Herbrew!

Thanks to all who enjoyed STUFF on the ABC – I have another 4-part doco in the works.

I am also working with We Love Warringah to elect an independent council for the Warringah Council at the forthcoming election on September 13/2008.

And as we speak the mighty Sea Eagles are top of the NRL ladder! This year that flag will be ours!

Thanks for all your support and stay tuned!

Love from Wendy.

Now you can purchase E-book versions of Wendy's latest releases from Allen and Unwin by clicking on these links!
Nagging for Beginners
Love and Punishment

Wendy Harmer ... mistress of her own domain.
THE AGE: Profile by Lucinda Schmidt

She's pretty much done it all but now the comedian is doing it her own way. At last, at 50, Wendy Harmer feels she matches her chronological age.

The comedian, author and former radio star says she has always felt older than her real age, perhaps because of the responsibility thrust upon her as the eldest of four children, after her parents split up when she was 10.

Or perhaps it was the toughness and maturity needed to cope with a double cleft lip and palate, enduring stares and bullying in the country Victorian town she grew up in. The birth defect was not fixed until she was 15 and required her mouth to be sewn together for three months.

"One of the reasons I went into stand-up was probably to prove I could get past that," says Harmer, who was warned by broadcaster Mike Walsh to avoid "being the disabled comedian".

Instead, the acerbic and punchy Harmer has forged a career as a trailblazer for female comedians on stage, television and radio, including being the first woman to host a TV comedy show (The Big Gig in 1989).

That was only four years after Harmer had performed her first stand-up gig, aged 29, following a 12-year career as a journalist. At work at Melbourne's Sun News-Pictorial, Harmer says she was always being told "stop being such a smart-arse, this is a newspaper, not a satirical magazine".

She swapped to a four-day a week job on a local paper, to develop her comedy career. "They just thought I had absolute rocks in my head," says Harmer of her Sun colleagues. "For years I'd pop in to say hello and they'd say 'have you come for your job back?'

"They don't ask that any more, after Harmer became one of Australia's highest-paid entertainers during her 11-year stint as co-host of the top-rating breakfast show on Sydney's 2-Day FM, reportedly earning $1.6 million a year.

She was dumped from the role late in 2003, when management wanted to attract younger listeners. How does she feel now? "I'll sound like a complete Pollyanna about it but I just loved every minute. [But] I think the cycle of the show was over. A good breakfast show probably lasts 10 years, then it gets a bit of a wheel wobble."

Harmer says she still loves radio, despite a stint at baby-boomer station Vega ending earlier this year after just six months. Now she's focusing on a new career as a writer, recently following up her successful debut novel Farewell My Ovaries with another in the chick-lit genre, Love and Punishment. "I really like to communicate with Australian women," says Harmer, who has also written several children's books about Pearlie the Fairy. "I'm a populist, I'm not a snob about literature."

There have also been rumours about a possible political career but Harmer says now is not the right time while her children are young (she has a son, 8, and a daughter, 6).

For now she's content with local activism, including protecting her suburb's beachfront. "In some ways that's more productive. Community groups are the greatest resource that politics has." But Harmer hasn't ruled out stepping onto a bigger political stage.

"It's something that's been on my mind since I was young - Dad always used to say, 'You'll be Australia's first woman Prime Minister,' "Harmer says.  "I'm keeping a watching brief, put it that way."

The big questions –
Biggest break: I was performing at [Melbourne comedy venue] The Last Laugh and John Clarke asked me to join a new writing group. That became The Gillies Report [on ABC TV in 1984-85].

Biggest achievement: Just being able to earn a good living out of entertainment, through what's come out of my head really.

Biggest regret: Once, when I was performing at the Edinburgh Festival, I saw a cashmere coat I should have bloody well bought. It's got to be 15 years ago and I often think of it. But if I'd bought it, I would have starved for three months.

Best investment: Years ago I bought a house in Collaroy. When the money came in, I didn't go off to Vaucluse, I bought the houses either side of me [one is rented out and Harmer uses the other as an office]. I'm mistress of my domain now - there are chickens and ducks, it's like a little slice of Byron Bay. But it wasn't that I was clever, [it was because] my husband refused to go anywhere, he wanted to stay in daggy old Collaroy.

Attitude to money: It's a bit like a river that runs through your life in full flood or in trickle. Do what you love and love what you do - the money comes as a corollary of that.

NineMsn: Love & Punishmentby Wendy Harmer Reviewed by Jacqui Lester "Revenge can have surprising consequences…"
For anyone who's ever been dumped, done something crazy, or wanted revenge on an ex, this book is just perfect for you.  Francis McKenzie makes her living giving people answers to all their love woes. As the Agony Aunt for the Sunday Press's Seriously Single column she's used to tales of betrayal, lost love and rocky relationships.

But she never thought it would happen to her. Her life was perfect. Great job, great flat, great boyfriend. Well, make that ex-boyfriend as the man she thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with suddenly dumps her for another woman.

But not just any other woman; an older woman. Francie can't believe it. She knows all the stereotypes, the comforts, the jokes about being dumped for a younger model, but an older one? Suddenly it's Francie who needs the Agony Aunt.

And as her world crumbles around her, Francie is driven to do something crazy, something embarrassing, something she knows she'll regret. Something she absolutely cannot let anyone find out about.

But the more she tries to hide her secret, the worse it becomes.

With her second novel, Australian comedienne Wendy Harmer offers a hilarious and often heart-wrenching account of a woman depressed, obsessed and very handy with a pair of scissors.  You'll laugh just as much as you'll cry with this achingly real story about a girl who's been pushed to the edge by love – think Bridget Jones with an Aussie twist and more guts.  You'll love it because: Wendy Harmer gives you the perfect portrayal of a break up. Anyone who's ever been dumped will be able to relate to Francie's despair and temporary insanity, and plus, the entire novel is set in Melbourne – you'll get all the references and know all the sights.

NZGirl…on-line magazine BOOK REVIEW: LOVE AND PUNISHMENT

In Wendy Harmer’s book Love and Punishment, Francie gets to do what every jilted lover has always wanted to do… get revenge. But the end result is far from what she imagined…

In this entertaining romantic comedy Francie, an average woman working for a newspaper column, is suddenly flung from her safe haven of a five year de-facto relationship into a horrid nightmare.

Her long-time boyfriend has run off with a much older woman (even worse, an actress!) leaving Francie to pick up the pieces of her own fragile life. She is left in an emotional wasteland asking the big question everyone asks when they are suddenly ditched…“why?”
What begins at first as a typical “my boyfriend ran off with another woman” story soon develops into a much more complex, and at times not so pretty, journey of self discovery.

Francie is forced to face not only a failed relationship, but her own personal demons. She begins to question her attitude and actions with the help of a therapist, who encourages her to see past the relationship issues and confront some scarier monsters from her past.

Along the way Francie is joined by some new flatmates, her domesticated mother who is in denial, a brother who has a secret of his own, and also her close friends who are incredibly supportive towards her at first, but what will they think when the real truth is exposed? As the story progresses you as the reader, as well as the other characters, are slowly leaked the truth behind Frankie’s (so far) well hidden secret. You can’t help but feel for Francie as you both grimace and laugh at her and with her at the same time.

I liked that Francie was a character who anyone could relate to. She was very likeable, and she was neither too dramatic nor too pathetic. The story was both funny, yet at the same time made you think about things on a serious level too. For anyone who as ever been in a similar situation or seen someone who has, the story was very believable.

It’s always great when you can see a character evolving and changing as the story goes along, and Wendy Harmer does this brilliantly, without being too preachy or over the top. It is a gradual process and is both entertaining and heart-warming. I was hooked from the first few pages and looked forward to picking up the book again whenever I had the chance.

As for any faults in the book, there weren’t many that I could see. If you are a fan of romantic comedies then you should definitely have a read of this one.
Tonia

Review from the Mary Martin Bookshop
LOVE AND PUNISHMENT by Wendy Harmer ALLEN & UNWIN November 3 2006 $29.95 Reviewed by Denise Pickles October 31 2006 Wendy Harmer has written a new novel, an occasion for rejoicing, indeed. With her keen eye, acerbic wit and wry humour, the author cannot fail to delight her readers.

Francie McKenzie is seeing a therapist. Perhaps the therapist isn't quite the one for her since Francie realises she is smarter than Faith and in any case, Faith doesn't seem to be making her feel better about herself, but Francie is desperate. Her boyfriend, Nick, has dumped her and taken up with a woman, an accomplished actress, who is eleven years Francie's senior. Francie needs help.  Francie is a journalist writing an agony column for a Sunday paper; an ironical situation given her present condition. Nonetheless, she struggles along attempting to bring surcease to the hearts of others while enduring her own broken heart. 

Gabby, the editor imported and placed in authority over her, attempts to help Francie and she is bullied into leaving the house she called home when her boyfriend lived there with her. Her new domicile, Elysium, a Victorian mansion, is shared with a television comedian, Jessie, Dave, a gorgeous hunk who specialises in one night stands and Robbie, a gay musician. The four tenants have the fact that they are currently single (and seemingly doomed to remain so) in common.  Wherever Francie goes she is haunted by reminders of Nick and his new love Poppy. The journalist is driven to sharing a one night stand with Dave, who seems unwelcomingly inclined to prolong the experience.  Francie's mother was deserted by her father when she and her brother Joel were children. Now Francie seems to be doomed to living out her mother's fate. To add to her distress, she is haunted by strange dreams. 

Despite being not in the slightest reluctant to share the story of Nick's shameful desertion with all and sundry, Francie is concealing a secret, one which, in the fullness of time, is told, by courtesy of Jessie and Poppy, on national television. Francie feels humiliated, especially when Poppy appears ready to vanquish all the shreds remaining to Francie of self respect, but then a strange phenomenon occurs.  Harmer has a wonderfully sharp eye and the ability to capture what she sees in devastatingly funny prose. The emotions Francie experiences have surely been felt by most women and so most women should be able to laugh at their former heartbreak when the author reflects their subtly distorted ruin in the cruelly necessary mirror of mockery.  The heartrending tale of Francie's misery, her revenge and her attempt at recovery is most entertaining and acutely if somewhat wryly entertaining. Harmer's characters are the sort of people one meets every day (if one moves in such circles) and Francie's revenge something which no doubt most jilted women would delight in perpetrating.  Chick lit? Perhaps it could be so categorised but Harmer's wit and characterisation lifts it out of that rather frothy classification.

Cut up over love Review of Love and Punishment by Poppy Gee November 03, 2006

11:00pm WHEN Wendy Harmer was in her early thirties her boyfriend dumped her for an older woman. Hurt, bewildered and furious, Harmer embarked on a short-lived revenge campaign involving an embarrassing incident with a handful of his undies and a pair of scissors. 

Now happily married with children and well and truly over the betrayal (the old boyfriend was a guest at her wedding) Harmer has drawn on the incident for inspiration in her latest novel in which the main character, Francie, vindictively tries to ruin the lives of her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend. 

But Harmer insists that there's a vital point of difference between Francie and herself. "Although I did cut up some of his underwear, I wasn't quite as vicious as Francie. One of my girlfriends was standing in the doorway (while I was doing it) and she said 'that looks like fun, can I have a turn?'," Harmer recalls. "Vandalism is fun to joke about.

There is no end to the amount of talkback that asks for what is your best revenge story. We all make jokes about it but it is quite serious. My true character went AWOL. Looking back, I can't imagine it was me."

Harmer first used the breakup revenge scenario in her 1990 Edinburgh Festival act, Love Gone Wrong, and admits to having drawn on it for different sketches over the years. "It turned out to be the most profitable break-up I have ever had. I should send him a cheque," she says. 

Love and Punishment is a racy read about Francie, the 32-year-old writer of a Sunday newspaper's Seriously Single column, whose boyfriend hasn't left her for just any other woman, but Poppy Sommerville-Smith, a famous actor who is, to add insult to injury, 11 years Francie's senior. 

In the aftermath of the break-up Francie moves into a share house in St Kilda with a girl-comedian, a gay bloke and a really hot guy. She sleeps with the hot guy in the first week, drinks copious amounts of alcohol, bores her friends senseless with her bitterness and obsessive jealousy, books herself in for therapy and eventually tries to get on with her life. Unfortunately no amount of champagne will wipe out Francie's nasty secret of vile revenge which threatens to reveal itself and destroy her life. 

The story is thoughtfully crafted and fluidly written and Harmer's comedic skill contributes to the engaging plot. Scenes such as Francie's flatmate turning the share house secrets into fodder for her live television panel, Talkfest, and late-night booze-fuelled conversations are realistic, sharp and funny. 

However, beneath the lighthearted tales of one-night stands, vodka hangovers and glamorous careers, Harmer explores serious issues such as infidelity, the relationship between memory and identity, friendship, family, with a particular focus on the dynamics of grief. 

"I do believe that grief is something you have to attend to. If you don't you will have a nervous breakdown," Harmer says. "After my break-up I went to a counsellor. I was at the point where all my friends said we've had a gutful and I had to pay some one to listen. I was so boring. 

"Therapy and alcohol got me through. Therapy helped me break the pattern." The novel starts with Francie's relationship counsellor telling her to look in a mirror and describe the qualities she loves about herself. Francie can only see someone she hates, an utter loser, a fat lump of nothing. 

Harmer's warm style is faithful to the chick-lit genre: simple word choice, clear ideas and punchy one-liners. "I love chick lit," Harmer said. "I'm not trying to write the most beautiful sentence in the world. The prose doesn't get in the way.  "That doesn't mean it is written like a pamphlet. I get bored with over-written books." 

With a career that includes 11 years' hosting 2Day FM's top-rating breakfast show, stints on television, theatre and live comedy, Harmer lists writing as one of the most challenging and stimulating things she has done.  "It is so much fun. You wake up and you think, I'm writing a book. It is wonderfully fulfilling and incredibly lonely," she says. "A courier knocks on the door and you're so friendly he is chewing his arm off to get away. I went to parties and would get drunk and just talk and talk since I'd been alone all day." 

Not everyone will like this book but if chick-lit is your thing, Love and Punishment is the deluxe triple chocolate fudge bar of the genre – great flavour, memorable aftertaste and impossible to put down until you've gorged the lot.  

Love and Punishment, by Wendy Harmer, (Allen and Unwin, $29.95)

STUFF 

This series looks at the human life-long love affair with material objects. It is a deeply personal and psychological portrait of our connection with our own “stuff”.

Stuff examines – from the cradle to the grave – the abiding passion all of us have for stuff – the stuff we buy, the stuff we treasure, the stuff we desire and the stuff that’s most important to us. 

Present-day Australian society is one of the most asset-rich in human history. The modern mantra is that we now have too much stuff.
Although the topic of consumerism has been theorised and written about for many years; recent concerns about mass- production, globalisation, global warming and resource shortage, have made us all concerned with “over-consumption.” We now understand that our love for stuff could cost us the earth.
But how can we begin to give up our desire for stuff, unless we understand why we have it in the first place?

Stuff asks: Are we hard-wired to accumulate? At what age do we begin to identify stuff as our own? Why do we choose the stuff we do? How do we express our unique personalities through our stuff? And how does our attitude to stuff change on life’s cluttered journey?

Wendy Harmer – a pioneer of Australian comedy, and a world-class accumulator - authors, narrates and presents this four-part series that takes us from a baby shower to a retirement home; from a school yard to a prison. She asks everyone she meets : Why do you love your stuff so much? What does it mean to you? What’s the best stuff of all?
The answers she is given tell us that our relationship with our stuff is much more complex that we might realise… And that our conversations about over-consumption have only just begun.

“In making this series I wanted to present a view about consumption that was beyond basic academic theory. I wanted to present a human view of consumption.

I found myself increasingly dissatisfied with the many books, newspaper columns and documentaries that finger-wag about the way we consume. We consume, they say, because we’re “greedy”, “unthinking”, to “show off” to “have power over others.”

We are told that consuming is a habit we have to quickly unlearn, as if, somehow, we had only recently learned it.

In fact, we humans have been consuming forever. The desire to acquire goods is as much a part of our lives as is the desire to work.

In researching this topic, I was much inspired by a wonderful book: “the world of goods – towards an anthropology of comsumption” written by Mary Douglas and Baron Isherwood  ( Basic Books New York, 1979).

In this book, the authors make the point that consumption cannot be discussed without looking at our social system. In fact, we humans consume for many different reasons - to keep our selves warm and fed, certainly, but we also consume books, poetry and beautiful objects that inspire; we use goods to celebrate; as gifts; to honour our spiritual life; to express our identity and encode memory.

Therefore stuff is both the hardware and software of human existence.

I am very proud to have made a documentary about consumption that does not contain the usual footage of factory smokestacks, landfill tips and bulging supermarket trolleys.  
Instead, it features many happy human faces and all their wonderful stuff! It’s a study of a love affair as much as anything else.

The message of this programme is to be mindful when you consume and above all, love your stuff. It is as unique as you are.
Hopefully, this series will have people thinking about over-consumption, but in a gentle and humorous way.

I believe that we do have to curb our desire for material goods, but that this must be in partnership with the way we make things. It’s not that we shouldn’t have stuff – but that our stuff should be sustainable. It should be made, purchased  and owned with care and a conscience.

If STUFF does make people pause before they buy their 300^th pair of earrings or that new gadget? That’s a bonus.” 

BIOGRAPHY - Wendy Harmer is one of Australia’s best-known humorists. She is a veteran of the Edinburgh, Montreal and Glasgow-Mayfest Festivals and has worked extensively in London, America and Ireland, appearing at the Edinburgh Festival five times. In 1990, her one-woman show LOVE GONE WRONG received a “Pick Of The Fringe“award and subsequently transferred to London.  A former political journalist, Wendy is the author of six books for adults – NAGGING FOR BEGINNERS, a how-to guide for women, IT’S A JOKE, JOYCE, a book on Australian Women’s humour, LOVE GONE WRONG, a humorous look at failed relationships, SO ANYWAY, a collection of her weekly columns from The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Weekend Magazine and in 2005, FAREWELL MY OVARIES, her bestselling first novel for adults which was followed in 2006 with LOVE AND PUNISHMENT.