Sophie Hardcastle is an exciting young writer currently based on the Northern Beaches in Sydney. After writing her first (unpublished) novel at fifteen, Sophie was misdiagnosed with Major Depression the following year. She was admitted to hospital four times over the next two years. She completed her HSC while in hospital, and received an ATAR of 98.25, received a Premier's Award for All-round Excellence and was fast-tracked into Sydney University's Sydney College of the Arts. In 2013, Sophie was admitted to hospital again and diagnosed with Bipolar 1 Disorder.
During the course of the next year she began to accept her chronic illness and realised nothing is safe, so she may as well do what she loves – writing. Sophie is determined to help change the lives of thousands of young people living with mental illness. She is working with Batyr, a not-for-profit agency that trains young people with mental illness to visit schools and universities to share their experiences and break the stigma surrounding mental illness. She is also working with Headspace to do the same. Sophie is now working on a novel while continuing her art studies.
