My Story: Wendy Glassby

Too old? Too late? Don’t know how? Are these valid excuses not to try?

Author Wendy Glassby argues ambition does not age, so why let age limit you?

Wendy began studies for a bachelor’s degree after she retired, then at 70 completed a PhD. By 80 she had written and published two novels and is currently working on more. To reinforce her point, she reminds us that a library of experience is the gift aging offers, great material for any writer, and her novels provide proof.

A short time lived in Papua New Guinea informs her first novel, and the fears and speculations of her present-day peers inform the other. Cheekily, she suggests both share one quality—an exotic setting—one a remote town in Papua New Guinea, and the other (tongue in cheek) inside a luxurious retirement complex.

To hear Wendy’s insights on writing and her books, “Between” and “Forever Young,” join her for this chat with tea and cake!

About the Author:
Dr Wendy Glassby holds a PhD from Murdoch University (2015). Wendy is a published writer of short and long fiction and academic essays; an indie publisher; and a recipient of awards from Varuna the National Writing House, and she has edited the work of others. Wendy grew up in a large family, spent some of her early life on the mid-north coast of New South Wales and in Papua New Guinea, and later a few years in Sydney. Western Australia is where she spent most of her life. Books are her joy; writing is her obsession.

About the books:
“Between” (2021)—a story told through the voices of members of a non-Western, non-indigenous family, spanning five generations in Papua New Guinea. In the late 1800s, a young Malay woman, Koti, leaves Ambon to work in the German New Guinea town of Rabaul, making her the first of many generations for whom that cosmopolitan town is home and homeland. Over decades, both world and local events shape the family’s cultural identity. Papua New Guinea’s independence in 1975 is a pivotal moment, dividing the family between Australia and PNG. This halts the sharing of their oral history, essential for them as a minority cultural group to explain their connection to PNG. Five generations on, their stories lost, and there’s only the disparate content of Koti’s ancient wedding chest from which to draw.

“Forever Young, a novel” (2025)—A coming-of-age story for the already-aged. Billy Corass, a proudly independent long-distance runner, unexpectedly finds herself in residential care while waiting to heal from a fall in a recent event. In her inner thoughts, she rages against ageism for measuring her as incapable of making her own decisions, but despite her resistance and anger, Billy gradually learns that life ‘on-the-inside’ is not entirely as painted by those on the outside. She’s surprised to find drama, deep love, and some other unexpected outcomes. Above all, her new community offers her fresh views of aging, ones that reassure her about her own future.