David J Williams enlisted into the Australian Army at 17. He completed a Bachelor of Arts (Public Relations) and worked and trained in the Australian Defence Force and a private PR firm. He then completed a Diploma of Education (Secondary) and worked as a secondary school English teacher. He soon developed the ‘writing for publication’ and ‘creative writing’ elective courses at his school.

    David became the Head of English Department and produced the student anthology Lightning in Kuala Lumpur: A Collection of Student Writing.

    In 2009, he and friends Neil Grant and Celeste Wahlberg produced the book 1000 Pencils: From Kinglake to Kabul.

    He also produced a sell-out show at the 2010 Melbourne Writers Festival. David and Neil then co-edited From Kinglake to Kabul for Allen & Unwin (released Feb 2011) which won the Australian Publishers Association’s best teaching resource for secondary schools award.

    In March 2011, David travelled ‘from Kinglake to Kabul’ to launch the book and conduct writing workshops at The International School of Kabul (ISK). He then  produced the 1000 Pencils show for the 2011 Melbourne Writers Festival.

     David champions student writing. He believes students often write texts that  can be enjoyed by a wide audience and believes they should be collected and published. He ran a workshop for teachers at the 2010 Victorian Association for the Teaching of English state conference and was invited to present at the Australian Association for the Teaching of English national conference at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in December 2011.

    David now teaches preservice teachers at Deakin University and holds the position of Community Development Coordinator - Secondary Education at Country Fire Authority (CFA).

    He lives in Kinglake with his wife Carmen and Italian Greyhound Bonne.

Contact dw30@internode.on.net