Stephen Stanford grew up in the rural outer Melbourne suburb of Eltham, the eldest of five children in a sprawling artistic family. After dropping out of an Economics degree, he travelled to Europe on a one-way ticket and returned some considerable time later with an Italian wife – two children following rapidly thereafter.
A serial entrepreneur since the age of twenty-one, he is co-owner with his brother of the iconic Melbourne live-music venue The Night Cat. His first company, Fun Fashion Accessories grew to become Australia’s largest in its field, making Stephen at its peak the only man working among nearly 100 women – whereas his current business in the aluminium industry is entirely male. While not exactly sure what to make of this, he feels it must be somehow significant.
Stephen has produced numerous projects for the arts including a live performance adaption of My Dinner with Andre, and the feature film, Four Jacks. He fell in love with science fiction as a child, devouring his fathers’ vast “golden age” collection – and his favourite book, for its playfulness and wit was The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison. His first novel Jubilee was written in part as an homage.
Stephen is a devoted meditator and ashram frequenter, has reared a rock star (literally) and is himself an avid music fan. He’s a wild eyed supporter of Aussie-rules football club, the Collingwood Magpies, and lives on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula with his wife Vani and two highly truculent Siamese cats.
