AustLit

Hazel Edwards is best known for her picture book There's a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake, which has been continuously in print since its original publication in 1980.

Edwards has also written school textbooks, readers for educational series, guides on business, travel and family history writing and on writing for young people, resources for teachers and non-fiction for adults and children. She has also written e-books for children, Zoo Clues and some works in her Frequent Flyer Twins series.

In 1990, Edwards was presented with a Community Service award by the Australian Fire Protection Association for her contribution in raising children's fire awareness through her use of scripts in schools including Playing with Fire (Nelson, 1989). She has twice been nominated for an AWGIE for her original script The Best School in the Galaxy (1994) and for her adaptation Hip Hip Hippo (1992).

As ANARE (Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition) writer-on-ice 2001, Edwards went on Voyage 5 of the scientific re-supply ship Polar Bird to Casey Station. During the six weeks as a 'roundtripper', she researched a YA eco-thriller about ele-seals, newspaper features and two picture books about Antarctica. She wrote Antarctic Writer on Ice : Diary of an Enduring Adventure (Common Ground Publishing, 2002) about her experiences.

Other notable achievements include the screening of There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake at Sydney Opera House to mark the 30th anniversary of the book, and a documentary on reactions to f2m: The Boy Within a coming- of -age YA novel about transitioning gender which was made by Kailash Studio. The 40th anniversary of There's a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake (2020) was marked in Tamworth with Hazel Edwards Week, including readings by the author and other activities.

Edwards also runs book-linked workshops on ‘Authorpreneurship’ and ‘Writing a Non Boring Family History’ and is the director of ASA ,(Australian Society of Authors), a National Reading Ambassador, and an ambassador for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

In 2013 she was awarded an OAM for Literature.