Leila Kulpas is the award-winning author of Into the Eyes of Hungry: Growing up in the Wilds of Australia.

Born to intelligent yet poor parents in the Australian bush, Leila overcame deprivation, abuse, adversity and poor schooling in her formative years to become a psychiatrist with a powerful success story.

She has a degree in Medicine and a Fellowship in Psychiatry, as well as an Honors degree in English. Her prose has been published in The Vancouver Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Review, The Pacific Rim Review of Books, a National Voices anthology, and various newspapers. Her poetry has been shared by Pandora’s Collective, in five literary journals and five anthologies.

This one-on-one interview shares Leila’s background and experience in writing her captivating memoir, Into the Eyes of Hungry: Growing up in the Wilds of Australia. 

Tell us about Into the Eyes of Hungry: Growing up in the Wilds of Australia.

In Into the Eyes of Hungry, I tell the story of the first seventeen years of my life, growing up in a beautiful but isolated mountainous region of New South Wales in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

My parents began in poverty but, through hard work and perseverance, realized their dream of owning and running a property. When I was six years old, they had settled into seven hundred acres, finding themselves under more stress than ever. My father began to binge drink, and my mother to rage and beat, targeting me in particular.

I survived, and eventually prospered, largely because of the love of my father, sister and various other relatives and friends, and my passion for the natural world and its creatures.

At fifteen, my family and I became the center of nation-wide media attention after my father discovered a gold reef.

Home-schooled by my mother, I escaped to the city at seventeen. In my twenties, I attended night school and studied medicine. I later moved to Canada to become a psychiatrist.

Written in the present tense from the point-of-view of a growing child, this is a memoir like no other. The main messages are the importance of love, perseverance and the natural world.

What inspired you to write Into the Eyes of Hungry: Growing up in the Wilds of Australia?

As a psychiatrist, many patients have shared their histories of childhood trauma with me, and I wanted to share mine. I realized I wanted to write the book after I came to live in Canada, and met a writer who became a friend, and who asked me to join her writing group.

To me, true stories about people’s lives are the most interesting.

How did your background and experience influence your writing?

Surrounded by astonishing natural beauty, with poor but intelligent Atheist-Communist parents, one of whom beat and verbally abused me, our way of living was very unusual.

I realized that I had a story to tell that could make a difference in someone’s life. I wanted to share this, as well as my journey to success, to show others it’s possible to triumph over adversity.

What is one message you would like readers to remember?

I want readers to remember that they are more powerful than they think.

Even if you’ve had to face hardships growing up, childhood trauma can be overcome by love and persistence.

Purchasing the Book

In these times of unprecedented change and uncertainty, Into the Eyes of Hungry: Growing up in the Wilds of Australia offers a wonderful example on how to break free from challenging circumstances and grow into a better version of yourself. Leila is able to tell her story with clarity and thoughtfulness, taking deeply painful, deeply personal experiences and finding a way to make our lives better despite them.

The book is available for sale on Amazon and other online bookstores. Readers who are looking for a renewed sense of hope when facing life’s daily challenges are encouraged to purchase their copy today: https://www.amazon.ca/Into-Eyes-Hungry-Growing-Australia/dp/1999570308

To connect with author Leila Kulpas, readers are encouraged to visit her website at www.leilakulpas.com and follow her journey on Facebook: www.facebook.com/LeilaKulpas

Media Contact
Company Name: Author News Network
Contact Person: Media Relations
Email: Send Email
Country: United States
Website: authornewsnetwork.com