After surviving World War II and a year-long famine in Holland, LOLO HOUBEIN emigrated to Australia at the age of twenty-four with her husband and children in 1958. In the 1960s and 1970s, she studied the literatures of Britain, Africa, Australia, and Oceania, in addition to anthropology and classical studies at the universities of Adelaide and Papua New Guinea, along with earning a teaching degree. She has written articles, food columns, and books of fiction and non-fiction, three of which have won awards. One Magic Square was awarded a Gourmand award in 2009 and made the short list of world’s best food book for Le Cordon Bleu in 2010. She also compiled the first bibliography of ethnic authors in Australia.
With Burwell Dodd, her partner of thirty-five years, she co-founded Trees for Life, a movement devoted to re-vegetating South Australia with native trees, and recently registered the South Australian Land Protection Association, affiliated with Lock the Gate, to protect farmland from mining. She also started a state branch of the Sydney-based movement Wrap with Love that unites thousands of knitters in making blankets for cold people around the world. Lolo lives and gardens in the Adelaide Hills of Southern Australia.