Simone Abbot - Author
After completing degrees in Arts and Law at the University of Adelaide, author Simone Abbot joined the Commonwealth public service in 1995, moving from Adelaide to Canberra. Simone ran the gamut of public service: working in departments like the Treasury, for regulators and a not-for-profit supporting the public sector, evolving from lawyer to policy-maker (with a stint in Parliament House) to design thinker to program director to author.
In 2023, Simone finished working full-time after experiencing symptoms she dismissed as ‘life’.
Simone now writes while volunteering with organisations supporting writers, migrants and refugees. She’s a member of the ACT’s MARION and the Australian Society of Authors, and volunteers with Navitas Skilled Futures, Cafe Stepping Stone, the National Library and the Canberra Writers Festival (a time of the year she calls ‘Disneyland for authors’).
Simone’s debut novel Eudaimania: Happiness Disease will be released on 9 September 2026, 25 years after the year of its 2001 setting, featuring locations in the ACT and SA.