Helen Hopcroft

Artist Bio

Helen Hopcroft is an artist, writer and performer with 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 non-fiction books for the University of Newcastle and Hunter Valley Grammar School, with her publication list including The Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald, Art Monthly and The Griffith Review. This year, she was shortlisted for the Spineless Wonders and Newcastle Writers Festival’s Joanne Burns Microlit award, and the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing for her poem, ‘The Howling’. She occasionally writes reviews for ArtsHub.com

Helen once 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 described Helen’s performance in her latest collection, ‘And Then Something Happened’. During the early stages of writing her memoir, Helen was mentored by Kathryn Heyman, a highly regarded writer and teacher. Her recent theatre productions include Mad Bitches Inc. and The Road to Tibooburra. Helen is the frontwoman for The Majishans, a new art rock band that launched their Nashville show at this year’s Newcastle Fringe Festival.