Bio – Jackey Coyle

– author
– freelance writer & editor
– writing tutor & mentor
– artist
– radio presenter

At the moment, I’m …
– taking a few breaths after 2 fill-in radio shows over the last fortnight
– scripting this month’s ‘Wordy-Gurdy’: ‘Up South: the great migration of Southern sound’ for the 16th
– adding finishing touches to maps of southern France and Portugal for a new travel sketchbook
– finalising my travel presentation: Dragons, reefs and the Spice Islands: Indonesia, east of Bali
– mulling over a rewatching of the magnificent Cinema Paradiso

Qualifications – Master of Arts (Writing & Literature), Deakin University; Certificate 4 (Training)
Member – Institute of Professional Editors and Writers Victoria

Wordy-Gurdy morphed out of freelance music–travel–lifestyle writing, editing and proofreading, with major clients Rhythms magazine (1998–2004) and Lonely Planet (2003–13). We published Indian Summers: Mumbai and beyond by Ian Cochrane in 2011.
I was headhunted by Summit Publishing as founding editor of business magazines Strategic Super Investor and Inside Small Business (later sold to Octomedia).
Our publisher client list for writing, researching and editing includes Black Inc., Bonnier Publishing Australia, Burnet Institute, Deakin University, Lonely Planet, Major Street Publishers, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Octomedia, Wild Dingo Press, John Wiley & Sons and Wilkinson Publishing, as well as authors of fiction, nonfiction, academic and business authors.

Places lived – Melbourne, Vic, Australia | London, UK | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Sydney, NSW, Australia | Warmun, WA, Australia | Port Germein, SA, Australia

Travel – recent & coming:
2027 plans – Antarctica, South America, Canary Islands | Scandinavia, UK
2026 – Indonesia, Darwin & NT | France, Portugal, Spain
2025 – Hunter region, NSW | Darwin, NT; Thursday Island, Qld; Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji | Townsville, Qld | England, France, Greece, Spain, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Madeira, Canary Islands
2024 – Texas, Florida & Louisiana, USA | Te Ika-a-Māui, Aotearoa | Tuamotu, Marquesas & Society Islands | Japan, South Korea, Taiwan
2023 – Te Ika-a-Māui, Aotearoa | Tasmania | Townsville, Qld; | Canberra, ACT | regional Victoria
2022 – Adelaide & regional South Australia | Western Europe & UK | Far North Queensland