Writer Profiles

FRANCES HALL‘s life has been an attempt to make sense of wisdom. In hindsight, she was always only going to learn from her mistakes, not from the wise words of history. Later in life, she wrote short radio scripts. She reads them now and realises they were an account of her life’s experiences. In her book, Scatterlogical Wisdom, she has tied them together to inspire others to tell their story and prevail. Frances was born in the Wairarapa, New Zealand, in 1948— a post-war baby-boomer. She was raised in Northland, New Zealand. Her varied careers have included bun-running, journalism, radio presentation and tour leading. Her dad always said she was of Spanish descent—something about the Spanish Armada sinking off the Cornwall coast, sailors who swam ashore, and the rest (as they say) is history! She has lived in the USA, and has travelled to Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Spain, Portugal and Morocco, to name a few. Her heart races every time she hears a Latin beat. This love of all things South American drove her to learn Spanish, dance the rumba and the samba, sample pisco sours and devour Latin American history. Frances has four children and nine grandchildren, and lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

Website: www.franceshall.co.nz
Photo: Frances Hall