Dr Lynne Kelly AM
I was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia on January 26, 2022 ‘for significant contribution to science education through writing and research’.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Engineering, Monash University, 1972
Diploma of Education, Rusden State College, 1973
Graduate Diploma of Computing, Deakin University, 1984
Master of Education, University of Melbourne, 1994
Doctor of Philosophy, LaTrobe University, 2013
I completed my PhD at La Trobe University, Melbourne, in the English Program as a non-fiction writer. My field is primary orality – the way cultures store and transmit masses of information when they have no contact with writing. I look at the application of primary orality to archaeology and in a contemporary context. It is the topic of my academic book with Cambridge University Press, Knowledge and power in prehistoric societies.
The ongoing research has fed my subsequent books for a mainstream audience, The Memory Code in 2016, which was then released by international publishers, audio and in translation.
Memory Craft (2019) was also released by international publishers, audio and in translation. Songlines: the power and promise (2020) and then Songlines for Younger Readers (2023) were co-authored with Margo Neale. The Knowledge Gene (2024) draws the research of the last decade together showing that we are biologically encoded to learn this way.
I have spent my working career combining secondary teaching, writing and studying. I am now an Adjunct Research Fellow at LaTrobe University in the School of Arts, Communication and Critical Enquiry. I was awarded an Arts Victoria literary grant for 2015 and an Artist in Residence award for 2017.
Publications
Trade – popular science
The Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal
Allen & Unwin (Aus), 2004
Basic Books / Thunder’s Mouth (US), 2005
Russian Edition, 2009
Crocodile: evolution’s greatest survivor
Allen & Unwin (AUS), 2006
Orion (UK), 2007
Spiders: learning to love them
Allen & Unwin (Aus, US), 2009.
Orion (UK), 2009
The Memory Code:
Allen & Unwin (Aus) and Audible, 2016.
Atlantic Books (UK), 2017.
Pegasus Books (US), 2017.
Good Publishing Co., (Taiwan and Macaw), Traditional Chinese edition, 2018.
Anag (Czechoslovakia), Czech language edition,2018.
China Worker Publishing House (China), Simplified Chinese edition.
Memory Craft:
Allen & Unwin (Aus) 2019.
Audio book, Wavesound, 2019.
Pegasus Books (US), 2020.
Cheers Publishing Company, (China), Simplified Chinese edition (in press).
Songlines: the power and promise: co-authored with Margo Neale
Thames & Hudson with the National Museum of Australia, 2020.
Songlines for Younger Readers: co-authored with Margo Neale
Thames & Hudson with the National Museum of Australia, 2023.
The Knowledge Gene
Allen & Unwin, (Aus and NZ), 2024
Greystone Books, (North America), (in press) 2025
Academic:
Knowledge and power in prehistoric societies: orality, memory and the transmission of culture, Cambridge University Press, 2015
Grounded: Indigenous Knowing in a Concrete Reality, Rounded Globe, 2016.
Fiction:
Avenging Janie, Lothian Books, 2003
Non-fiction, Education:
Practical Computing (co-author), Jacaranda-Wiley, 1987
Nuclear Technology (co-author), STAV Publishing, 1991
Lasers, Sunshine Books, 1994.
Challenging Minds
Hawker-Brownlow (Aus), 1994.
Prufrock Press (US), 1996
Mathematics by Computer: Iteration, Wizard Books, 1996
Motion Kit: Simple Concepts in Physics, Wizard Books, 1996
Sound and Light, Wizard Books, 2000
Maths Wizard, Wizard Books, 2000
Motion: Simple Concepts in Physics, Wizard Books, 2001
Words and Images (co-author), Wizard Books, 2002
* All Wizard Books publications taken over by Curriculum Corporation.
Multimedia CD-ROM:
Exploring Chaos and Fractals (co-author), Informit, 1994
Online Course Material:
50 Enrichment Units for the Middle Years – EUMY, 2006-8
Magazine and newspaper articles:
Physics and Infinity, Lab Talk, (Science Teachers Association of Victoria), 1984
It’s a Total Internal Reflection, Lab Talk, (STAV), 1985
Book Reviews, Lab Talk, (STAV), 1986/7
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a – total internal reflection, The Australian Skeptic, 1988
Chaos Rules the Classroom?, Classroom 2000, The Age, 1993
Multimedia Authoring, Australian Author, 1994
Managing Change in I.T., The Source, 1996
It’s virtually a school, The Source, 1997
Virtual schooling is online now, News and Views, ICPA, 1997
I.T. and Gifted Students, Gifted, 1998
I.T. and Gifted Students, Vision, 1999
Mirror Gazing: From Critical Reflection Toward Evaluation (co-author), Gifted and Talented International, 2000
How to build a cyberschool that has soul, The Age, I.T. Opinion, 2000
How a native goddess stole my heart, The Age, Extra/Gardening, 2001
Just Killing Time? (co-author), Principal Matters, 2001
The World Skeptic’s Congress, The Skeptic, 2005
Spiders – on the edges of everywhere, Wildlife Australia, 2010
Feminine Magic, The Journal of Performance Magic, 2015
This ancient mnemonic technique builds a palace of memory, aeon, 2017. Online magazine, the article can be read here.
Book Chapters:
Four chapters in Coping for Capable Kids, Hawker-Brownlow, Education, 1993
A Teacher’s Perspective in Geniuses, Prodigies and Savants, Centre for the Mind, 1999
Feminine Magic in Magiculum, EyeCorner Press, 2014
On (and off) the rocks in Would You Believe It? Stollznow , Karen (Ed.), 2017.
Study Guide:
Australian Biography: Donald Metcalf, Film Australia, 2007
Editing:
Mathematics online units for Britannica.com, 2000
Competitions:
Second Born, 1st Prize, Begonia Writing Short Story Competition, 1992
Conference Presentations and Media
Numerous press and radio interviews were done for The Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal, Crocodile: evolution’s greatest survivor and Spiders: learning to love them. Press and online reviews were universally very good. I have been constantly on radio, in the media and presenting workshops with my work on indigenous memory systems as presented in Knowledge and Power in Prehistoric Societies, The Memory Code, Memory Craft and Songlines.
I have presented at many conferences in Australia, New Zealand and the US in areas of Gifted Education, Mathematics, Information Technology, Physics, Management of Change and the Science of the Paranormal. I have presented seminars and conference presentations on primary orality, archaeology and memory systems in Australia, UK and the US.
I appeared in a TV segment for Lawrence Leung’s Unbelievable!, shown on ABC TV, June 2011 which was based on The Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal. I appeared in an episode for the SBS documentary, Tales of the Unexpected, also based on The Skeptic’s Guide. It was was aired in 2014.
Speaking engagements since 2016 can be seen here.
