Stephen Downes

• Has many years of journalistic experience in Australia and overseas
• Covered a Middle East War for Agence France-Presse and a Pacific-island insurrection for Melbourne’s The Age
• Set up a specialist Middle-East news service for AFP
• Wrote news, feature articles, leaders and edited sections for many years at The Age
• Was the first Australian journalist to win a place on the Paris-based Journalists in Europe program
• Has significant radio and television experience, presenting food stories for the 9 Network’s Sunday show and for two years a slot on business etiquette and food and drink for Sky News
• For two years (2008-2010) wrote editorials for the Herald Sun, Australia’s biggest-selling newspaper
• Has written several books, three of which have been translated into a total of five languages
• Has won national and international prizes for Advanced Australian Fare, To Die For and Paris on a Plate
• His latest book, A Lasting Record (HarperCollins, February 2013), relates the eerie tale of America’s best concert pianist and the Melbourne cosmetics salesman who immortalised his genius
• Has produced and staged professionally his own play, Death by Eating
• Has presented hundreds of speeches, his own training programs, seminars and lectures to a variety of audiences from university undergraduates to bankers, lawyers and cops
• Taught for many years most of Monash University’s undergraduate journalism subjects and continues to teach sessions to creative-writing and journalism students at RMIT, Melbourne and Swinburne universities
• For three years MCed Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett’s annual black-tie Christmas thank-you dinners for his specialist advisory committees
• Was a professional restaurant critic in Australia’s top newspapers for more than three decades
• Was for 11 years the weekly restaurant critic and food commentator for Australia’s most prestigious financial newspaper, The Australian Financial Review
• Speaks French and is a French and Australian national
• Has a BSc from Melbourne University (maths major) and a Certificate IV in Workplace Assessment and Training
• Is a PhD candidate (creative writing) at Swinburne University
• Is married and has three adult sons