Petronella McGovern
Petronella McGovern is a best-selling author and editor. Her latest novel is The Liars, a heart-stopping cocktail of family secrets, sinister unsolved disappearances and a community at war with itself. Her second novel, The Good Teacher, was longlisted for the Sisters-in-Crime Davitt Awards, and her first novel, Six Minutes, debuted on the Australian best-seller list and was shortlisted for three prestigious awards. Both psychological suspense novels, they have been described as gripping page-turners. She has also co-written two non-fiction books.
Petronella has been working as a writer and editor for thirty years, managing and training in-house editorial teams. She holds a Masters in Arts (Creative Writing) from the University of Technology, Sydney. Petronella lives in Sydney on the edge of a national park, and when she’s not reading books, she enjoys bushwalking.
Twitter: @PetronellaMcGov
Website: www.petronellamcgovern.com.au
Some of Petronella's books include:
What our students say about Petronella:
“Petronella’s feedback was always insightful and helpful, and she supported her tips with examples of her lived experience as an author.”
– Liani Solari
“Petronella’s feedback was really encouraging and helpful and the structure of the course was super easy to follow. Thank you for putting together this content – it’s been incredibly helpful! I really loved how honest, warm and helpful Petronella was. The video feedback on everyone’s assignment really helped me to learn and to reinforce learnings.”
– Nicole Anderson
“I was very impressed with Petronella and her attention to detail and her lovely energy. The feedback was valuable and I think will help a lot moving forward.”
– Louise Mace
“Petronella did a great job each week in summarising the material and giving us our feedback. She was both positive and honest, which was encouraging and helpful. I liked that she seemed to enjoy many aspects of the scenes we wrote. As students, that was also very encouraging.”
– Steve Forward
“Petronella was always very kind and on point with her feedback. She raised great questions that got me into a better frame of mind with my novel and my characters.”
– Camila Brendel
“I thought Petronella gave a huge amount of insightful individual feedback which gave the course more depth than I’d expected.”
– Philip Brown
“Petronella was incredibly encouraging. She was able to carefully critique and lightly suggest, without taking away from the original idea or intent of the writer. I think she set the tone for a kind, uplifting and thorough group when it came to giving feedback.
“Just want to thank Petronella again for her kind encouragement. Petronella, our group benefited from your knowledge and suggestions for improving our plots, characters and scenes. You set the tone for this group of writers, who also became cheerleaders for each other. How unique! Thank you!”
– Renee Mangan
“Petronella is knowledgeable and warm, with a wicked sense of humor. The feedback was interesting. She provided feedback and lessons more broadly so that no individual felt under the microscope.”
– Hannah Crawford
