Draft:Ruth Clare

Ruth Clare is an author, TEDx and keynote speaker, MC and activist. She is a regular radio and podcast guest   speaking on topics related to her lived experience growing up in a home with domestic violence, the generational impact of war and the role of mental health support in trauma recovery.

In 2017, Ruth won the Asher Literary Award for her memoir, Enemy, which centres on her experience growing up as the child of traumatized Vietnam veteran.

Background, early life and education Ruth Clare’s father, Douglas Robert Callum was one of the 15,300 Australians conscripts to fight in the Vietnam War.

He fought in Vietnam during 1968-1969 including at the Battle of Coral-Balmoral and was among the large number of Australian Vietnam veterans who developed PTSD following his military service.

Clare was born in 1974 in Brisbane, Australia, moving up to Rockhampton in 1979. During her childhood she experienced eight adverse childhood experiences including being a direct victim of and witness to domestic violence. She completed her final year of high school while living without any parents and was the first person in her family to go to university.

Clare attended the Queensland University of Technology where she completed a Bachelor of Applied Science degree majoring in Biochemistry and Microbiology minoring in Journalism.

Career After university, Clare spent seven years as an actor performing in television shows such as Neighbours and Blue Heelers as well as in Victorian College of the Arts short films and other plays and commercials.

At the age of 29, she began her professional writing career as a copywriter. Her work has been published in Meanjin, The Age and Elle Magazine.

In 2016, Clare’s memoir, Enemy was published by Penguin Books and produced as an audiobook by Bolinda Publishing. Clare has appeared on literary panels at The Brisbane Writers Festival, The Emerging Writers Festival and has been a guest on Conversations with Richard Fidler. She also facilitates literary panels and is an event MC. She has delivered three TEDx talks  and is a keynote and motivational speaker.

Activism Clare is politically active in the domestic violence, veteran welfare , child welfare and mental health    movements. She has delivered a grand round at the Royal Children’s Hospital and been a guest on Life Matters and other ABC radio shows as well as on community radio. She has also been a speaker at White Ribbon events ,Child Protection Week, Returned and Services Leagues, Legacy, the War Widows Guild and was the MC for the Australian National Veterans Art Museum Festival of Veterans Arts. Her work is cited in Jess Hill’s book See What You Made Me Do, Peter Yule’s, The Long Shadow of the Vietnam War and When He Came Home by Diane Dempsey.

Clare’s writing and speaking work is based on mental health and resilience insights learned during her personal trauma recovery and her research into the role of the autonomic nervous system, mindset and storytelling in mental health.