Stephanie Dowrick

Reverend Stephanie Dowrick (born 2 June 1947) is an Australian writer, spiritual teacher, and social activist. She was a publisher in the UK and Australia and is an international leader in interfaith, post-denominational spirituality as an ordained Interfaith Minister.

She is the author of more than 20 books, both fiction and non-fiction, including five that became No.1 best-sellers. Many of her books remain in print with Allen & Unwin, Sydney, and with Tarcher/Penguin, New York. She is also a Rilke scholar, writing on Rainer Maria Rilke for her PhD and subsequently publishing on the poet in In the Company of Rilke published by Allen & Unwin, Sydney, and Tarcher/Penguin, New York. She was the founder of The Women’s Press, London.

Stephanie Dowrick was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 2 June 1947, the younger of two daughters. Both her parents were university graduates and school teachers. Dowrick’s mother was Estelle Mary Dowrick (née Brisco, daughter of 7th baronet Sir Hylton Musgrave Campbell Brisco). Her mother died in 1955.

As a child, Dowrick went to a number of primary schools, then to Sacred Heart College, Lower Hutt, for her secondary education, and left school at the age of 16 when she also left home, studying law part-time while working as a law clerk. Dowrick left New Zealand in 1967, lived for some months in Israel, then lived in Europe from 1967–1983, mainly in London, but also from 1970–71 in West Berlin. She became a Roman Catholic at the age of nine after the death of her mother and her father’s re-marriage. As an adult she was for many years a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

Since 1983 she has lived in Sydney with her family. She became an Australian citizen on 16 May 2007.

She attended the Law Faculty at Victoria University of Wellington from 1964–6. Dowrick was an Adjunct Fellow with the Writing and Society Research Group at the University of Western Sydney, where she graduated with a PhD degree in 2008. She was ordained by the New Seminary, New York, where she graduated in 2005.

Publishing and The Women's Press

Dowrick began her publishing career in 1972 at George G. Harrap and Co., London. In 1973 she was appointed Editorial Manager at the New English Library. From New English Library she went to Triad Paperbacks as their first Editorial Manager, a new enterprise then being set up by three leading literary publishers, Jonathan Cape, Chatto & Windus, and The Bodley Head, with Granada Publishing, under the Chairmanship of Tom Maschler.

In 1977, she began the prestigious independent feminist publishing house, The Women’s Press, from her home in East London, financially backed by entrepreneur Naim Attallah.

The Women’s Press moved to offices in Shoreditch in 1979. Their first books were published in 1978 and included titles by Alice Munro (Lives of Girls and Women), Sylvia Townsend Warner (Lolly Willows), and in 1979 Michèle Roberts (A Piece of the Night). The Women's Press, which published some of the most influential feminist writers of the twentieth century, including Alice Walker, Janet Frame, Andrea Dworkin, Lucy Goodison, Joanna Ryan, May Sarton, Michèle Roberts, Susan Griffin, Lisa Alther.

Dowrick left Britain in 1983 to live in Sydney. She was Chair of The Women’s Press from 1989-1997. From 1983, writing became her primary work.

She was later Chairperson of The Women's Press, before its amalgamation with Quartet Books. She was the first winner of the Women in Publishing Award in 1979–1980. Along with Virago publishers, founded by Australian Carmen Callil, The Women's Press was the largest feminist publisher in the English language during the key period of the second wave of the women's liberation movement, largely considered to have run from 1969 to the mid-1980s.

Dowrick worked for Allen & Unwin, Sydney, from 1989–1992, as their founding part-time Fiction Publisher.

Psychotherapy

Dowrick had a small private psychotherapy practice for many years.

Writing

Dowrick has been widely published internationally and written fiction, non-fiction, for children and adults, as a literary journalist and as a columnist for Fairfax Media.

Dowrick’s first novel, Running Backwards Over Sand, published in 1985 by Viking Press, was described as "clever and complicated, yet in another way it's full of simple truths." Her second novel, Tasting Salt, was published in 1997, the same year as her non-fiction book, Forgiveness and Other Acts of Love.

In a review of Choosing Happiness (2006), The Age newspaper wrote: "Written with lightness and elegance ... Dowrick's gift is to bring the sacred into the mundane in a way that is not preachy, even those parts that can make you feel uncomfortable." Everyday Kindness (2011) was described in The Sydney Morning Herald as "the practical expression of her spiritual ethic."

Dowrick's more explicitly spiritual books include Seeking the Sacred (2010), described by The Sydney Morning Herald as "a chalice of wisdom", and on ABC Radio's Life Matters as a "very interesting" and "timely" read.

In the Company of Rilke is a scholarly spiritual study of the work of the European poet, Rainer Maria Rilke.

Spirituality

Dowrick has been described as a "pioneering individual" in interfaith consciousness. In June 2005, she was ordained at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York, by the New Seminary, New York, where she graduated as an Interfaith Minister.The New Seminary was founded as an interfaith seminary in 1979 by Rabbi Joseph Gelberman. Since 2006, Dowrick has led the interfaith community at Pitt Street Uniting Church in Sydney. Her spiritual odyssey has included immersion in Buddhism and Judaism as well as Christianity. It is described in Seeking the Sacred (2010) where she acknowledges those who have most directly influenced her. They include Ven Thich Nhat Hanh, Dom Bede Griffiths, Thomas Merton, and Irish poet John O'Donohue.

Dowrick has for many years given talks and workshops to a wide variety of groups and organisations, and has spoken at many events worldwide, sharing platforms with many eminent thinkers and peacemakers including Tenzin Palmo, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Don Cupitt, Professor Raimond Gaita, Rev Dr John Polkinghorne and Bishop John Spong as well as BK Anthony Strano, David Tacey and Professor Mark S. Burrows.

Dowrick has taught in New Zealand since 2000 at Mana Retreat Centre, Coromandel.

Media and teaching

Dowrick has been a significant contributor to Australia's literary and media culture over many years.

She was 'On the Couch' presenter on ABC Radio National's Life Matters from 1995-2004. Recordings were made and published by ABC Audio of a number of her on-air conversations with presenter and broadcaster, Geraldine Doogue. They include The Art of Acceptance (2003), Self-Love (2003) and Forgiveness and Other Acts of Love: The Humane Virtues (2003). From 2001 to 2010, Dowrick was the 'Inner Life' columnist for Good Weekend Magazine (The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age). She has continued as a regular guest on ABC Radio over many years on a range of programs including Life Matters, The Spirit of Things, All in the Mind, Tony Delroy’s ‘NightLife’.

She continues as a reviewer for The Sydney Morning Herald and as an occasional opinion commentator for Fairfax Media particularly on issues of ethics, social justice, feminism, and spirituality.

She was an ambassador and well-being presenter for ten years for Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA).

She continues to be ambassador for International Women's Development Agency (IWDA).

Dowrick teaches writing at the Faber Writing Academy at Allen & Unwin in Sydney. Her books on writing include Living Words (2003) and Creative Journal Writing (2007).

• Nautilus Silver Award, Choosing Happiness (Psychology/Personal Growth), 2009
• COVR (Coalition of Visionary Resources) Award (Best in print – General Interest/How to winner), Creative Journal Writing, 2010
• Nautilus Grand/Gold Award, Heaven on Earth (Religion/Spirituality category)

Nonfiction

• Land of Zeus, Doubleday, New York; New English Library, London (1974)
• Why Children? co-edited with Grundberg, Sibyl. Harcourt Brace, Jovanovich, New York; The Women’s Press, London (1980)
• After the Gulf War, For Peace in the Middle East, co-edited with Kettle, St John. Pluto Press, Sydney (1991)
• Speaking with the Sun: New Stories by Australian and New Zealand Writers, co-edited with Parkin, Jane. Allen & Unwin, Sydney (1991).
• Intimacy and Solitude: Balancing Closeness and Independence, William Heinemann Australia, Melbourne; The Women’s Press, London (1992); W.W. Norton & Co, New York (1994); revised edition, Random House, Sydney; The Women’s Press, London (2002).
• The Intimacy and Solitude: Self-Therapy Book, William Heinemann Australia, Melbourne; The Women’s Press, London (1993); published as The Intimacy and Solitude Workbook, W.W. Norton & Co, New York (1994).
• Forgiveness and Other Acts of Love, Viking Penguin, Melbourne; W.W. Norton & Co, New York; The Women’s Press, London (1997)
• Daily Acts of Love, Penguin Books, Melbourne (1999)
• The Universal Heart: A Practical Guide to Love, Viking, Melbourne (2000); Michael Joseph, London (2002).
• Every Day A New Beginning, Penguin, Melbourne (2002)
• Living Words: Journal Writing for Self-Discovery, Insight & Creativity, Viking, Melbourne (2003).
• Free Thinking: On Happiness, Emotional Intelligence, Relationships, Power and Spirit, Allen & Unwin, Sydney (2004)
• Choosing Happiness: Life & Soul Essentials, Allen & Unwin, Sydney (2005); Tarcher/Penguin, New York (2007).
• Creative Journal Writing: The Art and Heart of Reflection, Allen & Unwin, Sydney (2007); Tarcher/Penguin, New York (2009).
• The Almost Perfect Marriage: One-Minute Relationship Skills, Allen & Unwin, Sydney (2007)
• In the Company of Rilke (incl. original translations by Burrows, Mark S.) Allen & Unwin, Sydney (2007); Tarcher/Penguin, New York (2009).
• Seeking the Sacred: Transforming Our View of Ourselves and One Another, Tarcher/Penguin, New York; Allen & Unwin, Sydney (2010).
• Everyday Kindness: Shortcuts to a Happier and More Confident Life, Allen & Unwin, Sydney (2011); Tarcher/Penguin, New York (2012).
• Heaven on Earth: Timeless Prayers of Wisdom and Love, Tarcher/Penguin, New York; Allen & Unwin, Sydney (2013).

Fiction

• Running Backwards Over Sand Viking Penguin, Melbourne, London (1985).
• Tasting Salt Viking Penguin, Melbourne, London (1997).

Children's

• Katherine Rose says no! Random House, Sydney (1995).
• The Moon Shines Out of the Dark Allen & Unwin, Sydney (2012).