My Bookshop welcomes Hannie Rayson to discuss her new memoir, Hello, Beautiful!: Scenes from a Life.

Hannie Rayson–writer, mother, daughter, sister, wife, romantic, adventuress, parking-spot optimist–has spent a lifetime giving voice to others in the many roles she has written for stage and television. In her new book, she shines the spotlight on herself.

This collection of stories from a dramatic life radiate with the great warmth and humour that has made Hannie one of the best-known playwrights in the country. From a childhood in Brighton to a urinary tract infection in Spain, from a body buried under the house to a play on a tram, Hello, Beautiful!: Scenes from a Life captures a life behind the scenes – a life of tender moments, hilarious encounters and, inevitably, drama.

Hannie Rayson is a playwright and screenwriter. Her works–including Hotel Sorrento, Inheritance and Life After George–have been performed around Australia and internationally. She has been awarded two Australian Writers' Guild Awards, four Helpmann Awards, two NSW Premier's Literary Awards and a Victorian Premier's Literary Award. Her play Life After George was the first play to be nominated for the Miles Franklin Literary Award.