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Writer
Psychotherapy researcher & coach
Public speaker
Interfaith leader
Former publisher
Dr Stephanie Dowrick (PhD, D.Min) is a multi-award-winning writer of that rare category of books that can genuinely be called life-changing. Twice-winner of Nautilus Awards, and once winner of COVR Award (USA), her writing is unfailingly accessible, deeply thoughtful, and truly loved. Her writing life also includes internationally published fiction for adults and children, plus contributions to a wide range of mainstream and social media, including ten years as ‘Inner Life’ columnist for Good Weekend Magazine (Sydney Morning Herald and the Age). Her former career was distinguished by pioneering achievements as a publisher (including co-founding the London-based publishing house, The Women’s Press, where she was the first Managing Director). A long-time humanitarian activist, Dr Dowrick is recognised for her leading contribution to multi-cultural, inter-religious understanding through her books and non-sectarian teaching and scholarship. Born in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Stephanie has lived in six countries, respects a global view of our human story, and now lives in Australia.
‘Stephanie Dowrick is a lilting genius of the inner worlds.’ SARK
‘Stephanie Dowrick’s writing is like sunshine for the growth of our “wise self”. Her words nurture the seeds of kindness, creativity, generosity, aliveness and presence that lie within us all. From Forgiveness & Other Acts of Love to Your name is not Anxious, Stephanie’s words and insights have enriched my life with wisdom, hope, and courage.’ Professor Marie Bismark, Consultant Psychiatrist
‘An original, powerful mind…she challenges people to have an interior life. And she does it in a thoroughly non-sentimental, pro-active fashion.’ Geraldine Doogue, ABC presenter and journalist
‘Courageous and original, she asks the most difficult questions with enormous heart and intelligence.’ Joyce Kornblatt, author of Mother Tongue
‘Since I was a teenager, Stephanie Dowrick’s work has been absolutely central to my understanding of curiosity, spirit, faith, and the possibility of happiness. The wisdom in her pages has comforted me in dark times and brought me insights I might otherwise have missed.’ Clare Bowditch, musician and author
‘Dowrick is the consummate intellectual explorer…a woman of our times who has emerged from her own experiences and battles with a very definite sense of purpose.’ Christopher Moore, The Press
‘Ultimately it is Dowrick’s honesty, combined with her huge heart, that lifts herabove others.’ Claire Scobie, Sydney Morning Herald.
‘Through thoughtful observations and compelling stories, [Stephanie] Dowrick models for the reader an effective way to consider the journey toward love of others and of self.’ Publishers Weekly (USA)
‘Stephanie Dowrick is a godsend. Her gift is the ability to write in a manner that genuinely enriches and changes lives.’ Nigel Marsh, host of Five of My Life
‘Dr. Stephanie Dowrick makes the hard questions simple. She makes the impossible real and possible. Her wisdom is contagious.’ Paul Wilson, author of the Calm books
‘She offers penetrating insights into some of the most complex paradoxes in human relationships.’ The Guardian(UK)
‘Stephanie Dowrick is renowned for her writing on relationships, spirituality, and how to foster a happy life…[her work] is essentially a reflection on emotional intelligence and how to develop its gifts.’ Herald-Sun
‘Stephanie Dowrick’s words are like a soothing balm that she applies to our scratches and cuts and sometimes terrible pain… [she] brings together the wisdom, experience and learning she has gained from a rich and varied life.’ The Age
‘One of the most authentic teachers of our time.’ Tao de Haas, psychotherapy coach
‘Dowrick has her finger on the emotional pulse and spiritual pulse of people…offering us intelligent, effective ways to take control of our world.’ Australian Women Online
‘Dr Stephanie Dowrick is making a calmer, happier and more rewarding life possible.’ Insight Magazine
‘I love her combination of practical advice, connection, strategy, and research.’ Kathryn Heyman, author of Fury
‘Like the great sages, Dowrick is aware that the progress from denial to understanding is a lengthy one, and that true wisdom comes from experiencing all that life can bring and reflecting deeply upon it.’ Anne French, The Listener
Stephanie Dowrick, PhD, D. Min, is a multi-award-winning, bestselling author with an exceptional career in both publishing (she was founding Managing Director of The Women’s Press, London), and writing. She has been published in ANZ by Allen & Unwin for many years, formerly by Viking/Penguin (Australia & UK). Her USA publisher is now St Martin’s Press. She was formerly published by PenguinRandomHouse and W.W. Norton & Co. Her co-written book with Mark S. Burrows, You Are The Future: Living the Questions with Rainer Maria Rilke, is published by Monkfish Publishing Co. Dr Dowrick’s work is widely translated, and globally available in English-language in audio as well as print and e-book editions.
Stephanie Dowrick has twice been awarded Nautilus awards (USA): in 2009, the Nautilus Silver Award in the Psychology category for Choosing Happiness: Life & Soul Essentials; in 2014, the Nautilus Grand/Gold Award for Heaven on Earth: Timeless Prayers of Wisdom and Love in the Religion/Spirituality category. In 2010, she won a COVR (Coalition of Visionary Resources, USA) Award for Creative Journal Writing: The Art & Heart of Reflection.
Her international non-fiction bestsellers include Forgiveness and Other Acts of Love, Choosing Happiness: Life & Soul Essentials, Everyday Kindness, The Universal Heart, Seeking the Sacred: Transforming Our View of Ourselves and One Another, Heaven on Earth, and her ground-breaking original success, Intimacy & Solitude. That book, continuously in print, has been updated three times, most recently by Allen & Unwin in 2021 to meet the anxiety, loneliness and social changes that came with COVID19 and have continued in an increasingly fraught world.
Stephanie Dowrick’s three most recent books are Your name is not Anxious: A very personal guide to putting anxiety in its place (2023, 2025), published in ANZ by Allen & Unwin, and in the US by St Martin’s Press; a co-written book with Mark S. Burrows, You Are The Future: Living the Questions with Rainer Maria Rilke (2024), and Creative Journal Writing: A guided journey of self-expression, personal growth, and supportive reflection (2025).
As a social commentator, Stephanie Dowrick has written for multiple media outlets, including a 10-year “Inner Life” column in Good Weekend Magazine (The Age and Sydney Morning Herald). In addition to two acclaimed adult novels, she has written two picture books for children and the libretto for an acclaimed short opera, composed by Professor Kim Cunio. While she brings to her books the skills of an experienced creative writer and former publisher, Stephanie Dowrick has unusually broad clinical experience also.
She studied analytic psychotherapy and trained in the UK in the psychospiritual psychology, psychosynthesis. She is strongly influenced by the ethics of Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy, and the need to understand individual experiences within a larger social context. She has been an ambassador for several key health and justice non-profits and is much in demand as a gifted speaker and workshop leader. She was ordained as an Interfaith minister at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in NYC in 2005, and from 2006-2020 led a large post-denominational congregation in Sydney, while continuing to offer psychological and specialist supervision. Stephanie is active on social media including Twitter and her public Facebook page, and also on Instagram.
