Tobsha Learner is a British/Australian novelist, playwright and screenwriter. Her first collection of short stories, ''Quiver'', sold 150,000 copies worldwide. She has sold over 790 thousand books and is in translation in a number of countries. Her publishers have included Tor US, LittleBrown UK and HarperCollins AU. She is married with three stepsons, and while currently residing in New York has until recently divided her time between London and California.

Early life

Learner was born in Cambridge, England and raised in London. She is the daughter of Anglo-Australian parents: Arnold Learner, an English-born mathematician, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in London at forty and his first wife Eva Learner née Rechts, social worker, feminist and humanist who was born in Palestine then migrated to Australia aged four. Learner's parents moved to England in the late 1950s. She has two siblings Adam and Ruth Learner. Learner went to Paddington Comprehensive then onto

Hornsey College of Art Hornsey College of Art (a.k.a. Hornsey School of Art) was a college in Crouch End in the London Borough of Haringey, England. The HCA was "an iconic British art institution, renowned for its experimental and progressive approach to art and design ...

for a Foundation year. During that year she also trained as a marble carver in Carrara, Italy, apprenticed to the Australian sculptor Joel Ellenberg. After which she migrated at eighteen to Melbourne, Australia. She then went to the Victorian College of the Arts to complete a BA in sculpture. But in her second year, began to return to her first love of theatre. Firstly through performance art then playwriting after becoming one of the founders of avant-garde theatre company 'Straight-face Productions.' In 1989 Learner was one of the founding sponsors of the

National Foundation for Australian Women ''The Australian Women's Register'' is a fully searchable online database which aims to cover Australian women and Australian Women's organisations. It combines many resources and allows users to find historical and contemporary material on not ...

. Her "Literary papers, 1983-1992", are held by the

Mitchell Library The Mitchell Library is a large public library and centre of the City Council public library system of Glasgow, Scotland. History The library, based in the Charing Cross district, was initially established in Ingram Street in 1877 following a ...

at the

State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establish ...

. After completing her degree she moved to Sydney, where she did a playwright's course at the

National Institute of Dramatic Art The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is an Australian educational institution for the performing arts is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1958, many of Australia's leading actors and directors trained at NIDA, including Cat ...

then on to AFTRS, the

Australian Film, Television and Radio School The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) formerly Australian Film and Television School, is Australia's national screen arts and broadcast school. The school is a Commonwealth Government statutory authority. History Establishe ...

for a screenwriting course. Her mentors included writer/teacher Paul Thompson and director Jimmy Sherman.

Plays

* ''Is It Buckskin That Holds the Card?'', 1984 * ''Angels'', 1988 * ''The Waters of Pham Thi Lan'', 1994 * ''Wolf : A Dedication to Priapus'', Currency Press, 1992, *''The Glass Mermaid'', Currency Press, 1994, *''Les Enfants du Paradis'', adaptor of the work by

Jacques Prevert Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

, 1988 *''Miracles'', Currency Press, 1998, *''Seven Acts of Love (as witnessed by a cat)'', Hilary Linstead & Associates, 1995 *''Fidelity'', 2004 *''Black Wedding'', 2009

Short plays

* ''Feast'', 1993 * ''The Gun in History'', 1994 * ''Cage'', 2017

One person plays

* ''Witchplay'', Currency Press, 1995, *''Mistress'', 1990 *''S.N.A.G.'', 1992 *''Homage'', 2004

Radio plays

* ''Volkov'', 1987 * ''Lionheart'', 1992 * ''Queen Song'', Australian Broadcast Corporation, 1996

Short films

* ''Feast'', 1990, directed by Jill Moonie * ''Antonio's Angel'' (original story by Rosalba Clemente) * ''Succubus'', directed by Harry Weinmann

Books

Historical fiction (as Tobsha Learner)

*''The Witch of Cologne'', Forge, 2005, *''Soul'', HarperCollins, 2006, *''The Magick of Master Lilly'', Little, Brown Book Group, 2018,

Thrillers (as T.S.Learner)

*''Sphinx: A Secret for a Thousand Years'', HarperCollins, 2009, , Sphere, Little Brown UK *''The Map: Decipher the Clues, Discover the Truth'', HarperCollins, 2012, *''The Stolen'', Sphere, 2014,

Thrillers (as Tobsha Learner)

* ''Madonna Mars : An Erotic Thriller'', Viking, 1998, * ''Picture This'', Unbound, 2016,

Erotic fiction (short story collection)

* ''Quiver: A Book of Erotic Tales'', Viking, 1996, * ''Tremble: Sensual Fables of the Mystical and Sinister'', HarperCollins, 2004, * ''Yearn: Tales of Lust and Longing'', HarperCollins, 2011,

References

External links

Tobsha Learner's Website

Tobsha Learner's Erotic Fiction Website

T.S. Learner's WebsiteAustralian Script Centre Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Learner, Tobsha 1959 births Living people 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English writers 21st-century English women writers People from Cambridge English women non-fiction writers English feminist writers Women historical novelists