Freddy Iryss
reads, writes and tells stories
Welcome to my blog! I'm fairly new to this form of sharing my thoughts, but I hope you will find some of it useful and entertaining.
What's this blog about?
As a new fiction writer (well not so new, but I decided it's time to make some serious time to develop the craft, widen my network and publish), this blog will be my travel companion, recording some of the literary events I attend, things I read and reflections on my writing. Here, you'll find:
- book reviews (Children's and Young Adult)
- questions that bug me (that you might have the answers to?)
- Reflections on Writers' Festivals
- Workshop overviews/reviews
- short articles on anything literary
Ok, so now that you know what my aspirations are for this budding year that is 2019, let me tell you a bit more
About me
In November 2018 I decided to give up my very fulfilling, but demanding job as the CEO of a not for profit-arts organisation, where I helped hundreds and hundreds of writers achieve their goals. I thought now is the time to develop my own writing and get it out there!
Here are some fun facts (in no particular order) not many people know:
- Freddy Iryss is my pen name. My real name is Friederike (Iris Walaiwaan) Krishnabhakdi-Vasilakis. It carries German, Thai, Sanskrit and Greek origins and meanings). Freddy Iryss derives from my first name, Friederike, and my middle name, Iris.
- I publish mostly non fiction under my real name
- I have two flash-fiction pieces accepted into the SciFi Worlds - A Dark Drabbles anthology by Black Hare Press, which will be published mid 2019
- My eco-tale 'A Tale from the Cabbage Tree Forest' was published at Griffiths Review online, April 2019
- I won the Buzz Word First Paragraph Writing competition in 2018
- I came third in the HARP comp category poetry in 2014
- We have a library in our house that houses more than 3,100 books (work in progress)
- I'm a Synesthete (the number five is red - always!)
- I live in the Illawarra, on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia
- I love animals (they appear in most of my fiction)
- I grew up with dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, fish, hamsters, and a horse (and three siblings but they were of the human variety)
- My horse broke my toe when I was eighteen (Rapunzel was her name and she thought she was a dog/ human)
- When I was nine, our dog nearly bit my index finger off (I still have the scar to prove it)
- Chocolate ice cream made me gag as a child (I can eat it now and halfway enjoy it)
- Wasps and bees can kill me (I'm sure I have to be aware of certain other animals out there, too)
- I used to be an industrious knitter of jumpers (my record was one jumper/week. I even knitted during class at school - I convinced my teachers that it helped me concentrate!)
- I worked years as an art historian, visual artist, curator, and journalist in Germany and Australia, and was the director of a writers' centre for seven years.
- One of my German ancestors was a professor in German fairy tales!
- I have published many articles, essays and a monograph (all non-fiction)
- Although I'm only mediocre at painting, my artworks are held in German, French and Australian collections
- My first money earned as a 'creative' was as a singer, back-up singer, guitarist and one-time drummer in two bands
- I speak four languages: German, English, Greek and French
- I have a Diploma in Children's Writing from the Australian College of Journalism, a Masters degree in Anthropology (Art History and Media Science, a PhD in Creative Arts (translation: I spent so many years on writing really long, non-fiction texts, while I all the while I kept writing fiction just for myself.
I read, write and tell stories with young children and older readers in mind. Some have pictures, some don’t. Many of the characters, settings, environments and contexts in those stories are based in reality, even if they take the shape of mythical beings such as elves, lares, gluhswanz, brownies, dragons --well, you get the picture!
Stories lurk in random places; I find life's full of interesting stories and facts everywhere you look and some of them are just too nice to not weave into a new narrative.
My approach to writing in this way is probably due to the fact that I used to work as a journalist. The things you see and hear when you are out to cover a story is amazing and has inspired me endlessly. I like to write across cultural experiences, too. Having a mixed cultural background - German, Thai, Greek and Australian, as well as my training as an anthropologist helps me in my observations of people, customs and behaviour in general.
Another side of my professional journey that influences the way I read and write is that I am an exhibiting visual artist and curator. I think in pictures. My background in art history gives me a great appreciation of history and art as its record keeper and social commentator.
I'd like to work these elements into my own fiction writing, where possible.
Freddy Iryss
reads, writes and tells stories
Welcome to my blog! I'm fairly new to this form of sharing my thoughts, but I hope you will find some of it useful and entertaining.
What's this blog about?
As a new fiction writer (well not so new, but I decided it's time to make some serious time to develop the craft, widen my network and publish), this blog will be my travel companion, recording some of the literary events I attend, things I read and reflections on my writing. Here, you'll find:
- book reviews (Children's and Young Adult)
- questions that bug me (that you might have the answers to?)
- Reflections on Writers' Festivals
- Workshop overviews/reviews
- short articles on anything literary
Ok, so now that you know what my aspirations are for this budding year that is 2019, let me tell you a bit more
About me
In November 2018 I decided to give up my very fulfilling, but demanding job as the CEO of a not for profit-arts organisation, where I helped hundreds and hundreds of writers achieve their goals. I thought now is the time to develop my own writing and get it out there!
Here are some fun facts (in no particular order) not many people know:
- Freddy Iryss is my pen name. My real name is Friederike (Iris Walaiwaan) Krishnabhakdi-Vasilakis. It carries German, Thai, Sanskrit and Greek origins and meanings). Freddy Iryss derives from my first name, Friederike, and my middle name, Iris.
- I publish mostly non fiction under my real name
- I have two flash-fiction pieces accepted into the SciFi Worlds - A Dark Drabbles anthology by Black Hare Press, which will be published mid 2019
- My eco-tale 'A Tale from the Cabbage Tree Forest' was published at Griffiths Review online, April 2019
- I won the Buzz Word First Paragraph Writing competition in 2018
- I came third in the HARP comp category poetry in 2014
- We have a library in our house that houses more than 3,100 books (work in progress)
- I'm a Synesthete (the number five is red - always!)
- I live in the Illawarra, on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia
- I love animals (they appear in most of my fiction)
- I grew up with dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, fish, hamsters, and a horse (and three siblings but they were of the human variety)
- My horse broke my toe when I was eighteen (Rapunzel was her name and she thought she was a dog/ human)
- When I was nine, our dog nearly bit my index finger off (I still have the scar to prove it)
- Chocolate ice cream made me gag as a child (I can eat it now and halfway enjoy it)
- Wasps and bees can kill me (I'm sure I have to be aware of certain other animals out there, too)
- I used to be an industrious knitter of jumpers (my record was one jumper/week. I even knitted during class at school - I convinced my teachers that it helped me concentrate!)
- I worked years as an art historian, visual artist, curator, and journalist in Germany and Australia, and was the director of a writers' centre for seven years.
- One of my German ancestors was a professor in German fairy tales!
- I have published many articles, essays and a monograph (all non-fiction)
- Although I'm only mediocre at painting, my artworks are held in German, French and Australian collections
- My first money earned as a 'creative' was as a singer, back-up singer, guitarist and one-time drummer in two bands
- I speak four languages: German, English, Greek and French
- I have a Diploma in Children's Writing from the Australian College of Journalism, a Masters degree in Anthropology (Art History and Media Science, a PhD in Creative Arts (translation: I spent so many years on writing really long, non-fiction texts, while I all the while I kept writing fiction just for myself.
I read, write and tell stories with young children and older readers in mind. Some have pictures, some don’t. Many of the characters, settings, environments and contexts in those stories are based in reality, even if they take the shape of mythical beings such as elves, lares, gluhswanz, brownies, dragons --well, you get the picture!
Stories lurk in random places; I find life's full of interesting stories and facts everywhere you look and some of them are just too nice to not weave into a new narrative.
My approach to writing in this way is probably due to the fact that I used to work as a journalist. The things you see and hear when you are out to cover a story is amazing and has inspired me endlessly. I like to write across cultural experiences, too. Having a mixed cultural background - German, Thai, Greek and Australian, as well as my training as an anthropologist helps me in my observations of people, customs and behaviour in general.
Another side of my professional journey that influences the way I read and write is that I am an exhibiting visual artist and curator. I think in pictures. My background in art history gives me a great appreciation of history and art as its record keeper and social commentator.
I'd like to work these elements into my own fiction writing, where possible.
I write stories that may be set in your neighbourhood, your beach or your school, or they may be set in enchanted, magical places you've never heard of. What they have in common is they all contain some ‘hard’ facts, and you’ll find there is more than a kernel of ‘truth’ in every myth, folk and fairy tale or scifi!
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