A newspaper career spanning three continents and forty years delivered Samela to the Journalist’s Hall of Fame. 

She has written on everything from political analysis to gossip. She was the first woman employed to work full-time on the news floor of The News and, by odd chance, the first woman general reporter also at The Evening News in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

She was the first woman Aussie Rules football columnist in Australia. She was an Internet pioneer from the days before the WWW, wrote years of Internet columns and was inaugural online editor of The Advertiser when it went digital. 

Her weekly food column was turned into a popular cookbook “On a Shoestring – Recipes from the House of the Raising Sons”. Until recent retirement, she was senior features writer and theatre critic for The Advertiser.  Samela continues to review theatre for arts website, thebarefootreview.com, on Peter Goers’ ABC Smart Arts program and blogs at angrypenguin.blogspot.com.au. She is union President of Journalists in South Australia, convenor of Women In Media in SA, Chair of the SA Media Awards and founding chair of the Adelaide Critics Circle. 

Samela is daughter of South Australian literary legend, Max Harris. She has two sons, two granddaughters and a recently retired rocket scientist for a husband.  On Twitter, Samela goes by the handle of @saline.  She is keen on pelicans and spiders.