Stephanie Owen Reeder has never been the type to sit and let life pass her by.

The vivacious and curious 74-year-old is the author of 30 books, has five degrees (including a PhD in communication from the University of Canberra), raised three children and completed 25 years as a Hansard editor at the federal parliament before retiring in 2006. 

Today, she’s living the dream as a full-time author and has a new book, Peculiar Parents, ready to be launched.

Peculiar Parents looks into the lives of 60 different Australian animals and focuses on all things family, such as picking a mate, making a home, having babies, finding food and looking after one another. 

Of the 60 animals featured, Dr Owen Reeder says her favourite is the rakali, which has got its own book titled Rakali of the Riverbank, to be published in July. 

Akin to something like an otter, rakalis (or water rats), are native to Canberra and keep riverbanks clean. 

“I actually think writing these books keeps me young,” she says.

“It certainly keeps my brain going and I just love doing the research,” which she says can take from one year to three years. 

“The hardest thing with research is knowing when to stop,” she says. “Otherwise, I could go on forever.”

She says she knows when she’s compiled enough research and it’s time to write, particularly with her historical novels. 

“I always know when it’s time to stop researching, because the characters start having conversations in my head,” she says. 

“I think: ‘Okay, it’s time to get them out of there and down on the page’.

“When something really catches my imagination, I sometimes end up writing a whole book. 

Although she has a background in writing historical fiction, Dr Owen Reeder is the recipient of the Children’s Investigative Zoology award from the Whitley Book Awards and the Royal Zoological Society of NSW in 2024 for her book Sensational Australian Animals, the predecessor of Peculiar Parents.

“It’s funny,” she says, “I don’t even have a science degree… As a non-scientist, that was really, really special.

“My science teacher would have been surprised!” 

With five environmental picture books, Dr Owen Reeder says her biggest inspiration, outside of her thirst for knowledge, is her three grandchildren. 

“My grandson was really interested in the weather, so I wrote a book called Australia’s Wild, Weird, Wonderful Weather,” she says.

“In that, I did a page called animal antics, which looked at how animals change in the weather.”

Ultimately, Dr Owen Reeder says she writes for the entertainment and education not only of her readers, but for herself. 

“It’s a great way to get kids interested,” she says.

“We are raising our next generation of zoologists.”

“Kids love weird and wonderful things… one of the things that really struck me when researching is how similar many of them are to us. 

“Many mate for life and when they are mating, they try to impress one another.

Although Dr Owen Reeder is an illustrator herself, she confessed that animals weren’t a talent of hers.

“It’s the most wonderful feeling when you see your words brought to life on the page by the illustrator and also by the book designer.”

Using an Australian landscape palette, full of greens, oranges and blues, Peculiar Parents has been illustrated by Brisbane watercolour artist, Ingrid Bartkowiak.

“They’re absolutely beautiful,” says Dr Owen Reeder. 

With 60 portraits and a further 60 images scattered throughout the book, she says it has been an incredible labour of love.

The book will be launched at the National Library of Australia at 10.30am on July 5. It is a free event with guest appearances from Dr Owen Reeder, Ingrid Bartkowiak and animals from Canberra Reptile Zoo. Book at library.gov.au.