Benjamin MacEllen

Contributor

Ben has been writing stories, songs, poems and plays since he was a little girl named Susan. In 2003 he transitioned to male, at the age of thirty-three, and went on to write his powerful memoir, ‘A Cut Closer to Whole’ in 2011. In his twenties Ben produced and directed a youth theatre company in country Victoria, and has always had a fervent love for Gilbert & Sullivan, Test cricket, and ‘The Goodies’ - all of which have inspired his writing, humour, and sense of theatre. He recorded ‘Book of Dreams’, a CD of original songs in 1998, and although his voice has changed dramatically from a folk-style, lilting mezzo to an unsteady baritone, he still enjoys singing in the car and shower. His “quarter-strength, decaf, soy latte with three sugars” raises eyebrows with baristas, but he says he drinks it for the taste.