Judy Fisher
Born in Egypt, Judy was sent to boarding school in England aged eight. By the time she was sixteen she had enough of school, left and took a secretarial course before whisking off to London to enjoy the Swinging Sixties. She married a Liverpool businessman and enrolled in the Open University when it was established by Harold Wilson in 1971. Divorced, with two children and a degree in social psychology, she worked in a variety of research and planning jobs in the National Health Service, England, before setting up her own health promotion business to design publications, run conferences, provide support to projects and write reports.
In her mid-fifties and seeking adventure, she and her second husband moved to Mauritius, an island in the Indian ocean, where she learnt to fish, he met a younger woman and became a Muslim. Divorced again she spent the next ten years travelling around the world, fishing, wine tasting and bartering for accommodation. She eventually settled in Dunedin before moving ten years later to Riwaka. A compulsive diarist and inspired by Julia Cameron, Judy’s been writing Morning Pages for over twenty-five years. She’s written a number of articles for magazines and newspapers and had a monthly column, for three years, in The Rothesay News, a free, community newspaper published on the West Harbour, Dunedin. She occasionally writes poems. Judy attended writing courses at Otago University and was encouraged to write a memoir about her nomadic decade based on diaries and travel letters written at the time. Off the Hook was independently published in May 2020. Off the Hook, a true story written to encourage those who suddenly face life alone in middle age, is available from The Copy Press https://www.copypress.co.nz/shop/off-the-hook/ or from Judy at ironlatchpublications@gmail.com |
Listen here to Judy's interview on Fresh FM Radio
in October 2020 |