Christine Velde (née Lavender) was born in Adelaide, South Australia as the eldest of four siblings. Christine was employed as a Senior Lecturer in the university sector in South Australia and Queensland for about many years and later held posts as a Visiting Research Fellow.
Christine holds two PhDs: the first in Education and the second in Creative Writing. Over the last 20 years Christine has worked and travelled throughout South-East Asia. Initially as Academic Director of a Into the Exotic 332 design and business college in Shanghai, China and later as a freelance research/writer in Indonesia.
Christine’s fascination with different cultures and experience in living and travelling between Australia and South-East Asia, have been the catalyst for her non-fiction books, written through the eyes of an expat.
Christine and her husband David purchased, renovated and lived in their own home in Jimbaran, Bali, Indonesia for seven years.Besides focusing on her own research and writing, Christine was a tireless worker for the Rotary Club Bali International, Nusa Dua and regularly wrote articles for the Bali Advertiser. Reviews of Christine’s books have been published in the Jakarta Post, Tempo Magazine in Jakarta and the Guardian Messenger, Adelaide. Christine is a member of IPED (Institute of Professional Editors). Christine’s collective biography: DragonFlyers was launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Germany, in 2015.
Christine now resides at Buderim on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, with her husband David and their Bengal, Rajah. She contributes to community groups, such as the Buderim Craft Cottage, Sunshine Coast Art Group and is a member of the Queensland
Writers’ Centre.