Speaker Details

Australia's 'Queen of Crime', Tara Moss is the author of five bestselling and critically acclaimed crime novels Fetish, Split, Covet, Hit and Siren featuring fiesty heroine Makedde Vanderwall. Her novels have been published in 17 countries and in 11 languages, and her non-fiction work has appeared in publications including The Australian Literary Review, Vogue, ELLE, The Australian Women's Weekly, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian.

A lifelong passion, Moss began penning horror stories for her classmates at age 10. She went on to an international career as a fashion model before pursuing writing professionally, first earning a Diploma from the Australian College of Journalism in 1997, and in 1998 winning the Scarlet Stiletto Young Writers Award for her story, 'Psycho Magnet'. The first of Moss' novels, Fetish, came at age 23, and since then they have been nominated for the Davitt Award and the Ned Kelly, two of Australia's most prestigious honors. Moss discovered that the transition from model to novelist would not be easily accepted by some and after meeting with scepticism over her unusual career switch, Moss accepted a journalist's dare in 2002 to sit a lie detector test to prove she is the sole author of her novels. She passed. Moss now has the unusual distinction of being the only crime writer in the world known to be scientifically proven.

Not a writer to rely solely on imagination, Moss' in-depth research has seen her tour the FBI Academy's Hogan's Alley, spend time in squad cars, the morgue, prisons, the Hare Psychopathy Lab, the Supreme Court and criminology conferences world-wide, take polygraph tests, shoot weapons, conduct surveillance with private investigators, pass the Firearms Training Simulator (FATSII) with the LAPD, pull 4.2 Gs doing loops over the Sydney Opera House flying with the RAAF Roulettes, acquire her CAMS race driver licence and much more. In the process of writing her most recent novel, Siren, Moss was set on fire by Hollywood stunt company West EFX, and choked unconscious by former head referee for the Ultimate Fighting Championship 'Big' John McCarthy.

In 2010 Moss will host Tara Moss in Conversation, interviewing fellow crime authors for the 13th STREET Universal Channel as their 'Ambassador of Crime'. She will also host the new true crime series Tough Nuts on the Crime & Investigation Network, airing from June 2010. She previously hosted the international crime documentary series Tara Moss Investigates on the National Geographic Channel, and has conducted hundreds of talks at literary festivals, schools and universities.

Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Moss is a dual Australian/Canadian citizen, and now has a star on the Australian Walk of Fame, first person inducted for services to literature. Moss is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and an ambassador for the YWCA and the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children.

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