Nerina Hilliard

September 1928 – 4 July 1960

Norma Kathleen Hemming was born on September 1928 in Ilford, Essex, one district of London, England, UK., she migrated to Australia in 1948. She the Australia's first significant female science fiction writer. She wrote for local pulp magazine Thrills Incorporated and enthusiastically participated in the Australian fan scene. She was a founding member of the femme fan group Vertical Horizons, and wrote and acted for the SF theatrical group The Arcturian Players. She returned to international publishing in the late 1950s with stories in Nebula SF and New Worlds. She also wrote eight romance novels for Mills & Boon under the pseudonym of Nerina Hilliard, only one was published before her death, through these she had a long posthumous career, because her romances were published from 1958 to 1976, returning royalties to her estate for three decades. She passed away at the age of 31 of breast canceron 4 July 1960 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.