Internationally-renowned author and educator Shelley Davidow will this year guide USC students aspiring to be professional writers or Steiner Education teachers.

Dr Davidow, a recent graduate of USC’s Doctor of Creative Arts, will lecture in USC’s Master of Professional Practice (Creative Writing) and launch a new Graduate Certificate in Steiner Education, an alternative education philosophy.

Dr Davidow has taught people of all ages across the world for the past 20 years, from a university in Qatar to a prison in America to a high school in Australia.

Her range of award-winning publications includes more than 40 books across the genres of non-fiction; adult, young adult and children’s fiction; and poetry.

A standout from 2015 was Raising Stress-Proof Kids (Exisle Publishing, Australia; Familius, USA), a book that recently featured in an article in The Huffington Post.

A memoir Dr Davidow wrote as part of her USC thesis, Whisperings in the Blood, was published this year by University of Queensland Press. It traces the immigrant journeys taken by four generations of her family as they fled the Holocaust, the Great Depression and South African apartheid.

“I believe in the power of words to change the way we think about the world and the power of educators to be the force that shapes future generations, so teaching into these programs at USC is an incredible opportunity,” she said.

“I can think of nothing more exciting than assisting aspiring writers to master the tools that will enable them to say what they want to say.

“My experience in publishing and my network of industry connections in Australia and abroad will help students progress as writers in a competitive world.”

Dr Davidow, who was a lead teacher in a pioneering Steiner school in the United States and has taught the philosophy from kindergarten to high school level, said she looked forward to inspiring USC students who also wanted to teach the developmental approach to curriculum.

“I have published and presented on my research in literacy and stress reduction in the classroom and continue to present and run professional development for teachers in Australia and internationally.”

For more information on USC’s Master of Professional Practice (Creative Writing) and Graduate Certificate in Steiner Education, go to the USC web page.

For more information about Dr Davidow’s publications, go to this web page.

— Julie Schomberg