Rose Vines grew up in Sydney, Australia. At an early age she exhibited signs of being a rabblerouser: Her first protest action at the age of 11 was to pen a letter to the premier of Victoria imploring him not to hang Ronald Ryan. Ryan went on to be the last man executed in Australia, so Rose’s letter clearly failed to make an impact.
She went on to Sydney University where she studied English and Politics and dedicated herself to developing her protest skills.
She then wound her way through a variety of occupations, including stints as a counsellor in a battered women’s shelter and a rape crisis center; as a computer programmer in a bank and a publishing house; and as a freelance journalist for publications in Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK.
In mid-life she crossed the Pacific and ended up in the Deep South. There, in New Orleans, she fell in with a bunch of justice-obsessed nuns who were working to end the death penalty.
She still works with them, visits people imprisoned in Angola, and writes about using art for social change.
