Beverley Lello was once an English and Literature teacher and has always loved reading and telling stories. Teaching was an opportunity to share this passion with students but since retirement she has had more time to write her own stories and plays. She lives on a bush block in Yackandandah in north-east Victoria and is a keen adventure traveller. Early trips include trekking in the Andes in the 1970s. In more recent years Beverley has been on a seven week sailing trip to the Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia Island; trekked to see all the 8000 metre peaks in Nepal, Pakistan and Tibet and enjoyed several extended cycling trips in Europe. Travel and small town life are the inspiration for many of her short stories. Her travel blog can be found at beverleylello.wordpress.com.
Another passion is theatre and for fifteen years Beverley was Production Manager of the Yackandandah Theatre Company. She has acted in, directed and written several plays for this group and has also had short plays performed by other theatre companies, including “Short + Sweet” Festivals in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney.
Her short story collection, Tailwind, was launched by Aanson Cameron at the WriteAroundtheMurray Festival in September 2017. Beverley formed Yackandandah Writers four years ago and has been actively involved in encouraging people of all ages in the local area to write and publish.
SHORT STORIES
Things that are found in trees – Margaret River Press 2012
Saffron – Country Style Magazine August 2012
So Thin – Country Style Magazine January 2013
Sign on the Dotted Line – Country Style Magazine, January 2014
Protest – Page Seventeen Issue 11 2014
Seedlings – Award Winning Australian Writing 2014 and again in A Lasting Conversation: Stories About Ageing (edited by Dr Susan Ogle and Melanie Joosten) 2020
Other stories have been published in Stringybark Press anthologies, page seventeen, [untitled], four W and Award Winning Australian Writing 2012 – 2018.
COMPETITIONS
Beverley has won first prize in a number of short story competitions:
- Albury City Short Story Competition 2011 & 2012,
- Margaret River Press Short Story Competition 2012
- Country Style Short Story Competition 2012
- Rolf Boldrewood Literary Award 2013
- The SWWVic Literary Awards 2013 (2nd prize)
- Eastwood Hills/FAW Literary Competition 2014
- Angelo B Natoli Short Story Award 2014
- Mona Brand Short Story Competition 2015
- Ex Libris Port Fairy Story Writing Competition 2016
- The Booranga Prize three times for the best story published in fourW – 2012, 2014 & 2017
- Ethel Webb Bundell Short Story Award 2018
BOOKS
Borrowed Spaces – a short story collection. 2019:
