Elizabeth Powell (writer)

Elizabeth Powell (1898 – 16 May 1988) was an Australian travel writer and author of children's and young adult fiction. She also wrote as Kirkcaldy, E. Sandery, Patricia Ann and E. P. Carne.

Life
Powell was born Effie Williams in Medindie, South Australia in 1898 and began writing stories as a child.

Writing as E. Sandery, her short stories and poems appeared in The Observer and The Register from 1919.

As Kirkcaldy, her short stories and nonfiction reports were published in The Journal and The Register from 1922  and she illustrated her own work, including fairy tales for the Saturday Journal and The Observer which appeared each week through to mid-1927.

As E. Sandery, she wrote of her travels by camel and car in Central Australia and by boat in Papua for The Sydney Mail, The Daily Telegraph and The Australian Woman's Mirror from 1925.

Having studied watercolour painting with Julian Ashton, in 1928 she provided the illustrations for The Wild Oats of Han by Katharine Susannah Prichard.

Writing as Patricia Ann, Powell answered readers' personal questions in a column for the Sun News-Pictorial in the 1930s. A selection of these columns was published by Publicity Press as In the Mailbag in 1938.

Fiction

 * The Beehive, Cornstalk Publishing, 1928
 * Sunset Hill, Cornstalk Publishing, 1928
 * Mr Jigsaw, Cornstalk Publishing, 1928
 * In the Path of Thunder, Consolidated Press, 1938
 * The Fathers Have Eaten, Consolidated Press, 1939
 * The Old Brown House, Angus & Robertson, 1942

Nonfiction

 * Central Australia, Publicity Press, 1938
 * In the Mailbag, Publicity Press, 1938 (as Patricia Ann)

Personal
Powell married William Joseph Sandery on 23 February 1916. He was in the Light Horse but was medically discharged in August 1916. He petitioned for divorce in 1931 on the grounds of her desertion since April 1926. A son, Neil Sandery, was chief officer in the merchant navy and died in 1946.

She died in Adelaide on 16 May 1988.