Sophie Cunningham

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This podcast features Sophie Cunningham, the organiser of the #AuthorsForWildlife fundraising auction. This fundraiser is for caring for surviving wildlife here in Australia. The full set of #AuthorsForFireys interviews and blog posts will be here and interviews and guest blogs for #AuthorsForWildlife will be here as soon as they go online.

Who is Sophie Cunningham?

Sophie is a self-appointed ‘tree therapist’ and author of the City of Trees. She wrote Warning: the story of cyclone Tracey, about the aftermath of the cyclone that flattened the city of Darwin in 1975. This seems peculiarly relevant right now: Australia will still be reeling from the impact of this bushfire season when the next, bigger, bushfires start.

Sophie Cunningham is the kind of person who asks the difficult questions like How do we take in the beauty of our planet while processing the losses? What trees can survive in the city? Which animals can survive in the wild? How do any of us—humans, animals, trees—find a forest we can call home?

City of Trees is on Text Publishing’s website.

Sophie Cunningham’s offer

Alongside #AuthorsforFireys I'd like to run an #AuthorsforWildlife.I am offering a signed copy of City of Trees and a framed original illustration from the book. Donate to Wildlife Victoria or Wires or the GoFundMe fund for Kangaroo Island. DM for bids/details/questions.

— Sophie CunninghAM (@sophiec) January 6, 2020

Alongside #AuthorsforFireys I’d like to run an #AuthorsforWildlife. I am offering a signed copy of City of Trees and a framed original illustration from the book. Donate to Wildlife Victoria or Wires or the GoFundMe fund for Kangaroo Island. DM for bids/details/questions.

Please bid on the tweet.

Want to know if this is legit?

Yes, it is legit. The whole community — Australian and global — is rallying together to support Australian firefighters, wildlife rescue and bushfire victims. Here are some reports on this effort.

• SBS: Australian authors rally around to raise funds for bushfire relief effort
• SMH: Authors ask readers to dig deep for nation’s bushfire crisis
• Book Riot: AUTHORS SUPPORT AUSTRALIA FIRE SERVICES WITH #AUTHORSFORFIREYS
• Penguin Books: Authors For Fireys — Australian authors band together to support the Country Fire Authority
• Daily Nous: Philosophers Raising Funds for Firefighters in Australia
• ArtsHub: Six ways artists can take action on bushfires

Fundraiser information

Sophie Cunningham’s initiative is a sister fundraiser to the #AuthorsForFireys fundraiser but with funding directed to genuine wildlife rescue and sanctuaries. #AuthorsForWildlife operates on the same rules and format but with money going towards caring for animals instead. This is a necessity with the estimated one billion animals dead and dying or expected to die after they’ve lost their habitats and food supply.

Read about the Authors for Fireys fundraiser to learn more.

The #AuthorsForFireys auction will take place only on Twitter from Monday 6th January, ending at 11pm AEST on Saturday 11th January. Scores of authors, illustrators and book industry people will host their own individual auction under the hashtag #AuthorsForFireys and bids will take place on each tweet. At the end, the highest bidder donates the amount directly to the firefighters fund. After receiving proof of donation, the author or artist will dispatch goods/services or make arrangements for delivery.

As originally wanted by @EmilyGale and @NovaWeetman, this fundraiser is now officially for ALL fire services in Australia. The official Authors For Fireys Website will be updated accordingly. Winning bidders or auctioning authors can nominate funds to the fire service of their choice.

Items up for auction include signed books, original illustrations, one-off fan-art and craft, unique gifts and manuscript critiques for writers.

There is a supporting site, explaining how it works, at this address: https://authorsforfireys.wixsite.com/website.