Caroline Baum is an Australian

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and radio and television

broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

er. She was the founding editor of '' Good Reading'' magazine.

Early life and education

Born in London to migrant parents, Baum attended secondary school at the

Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle The Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, usually referred to as the Lycée or the French Lycée, is a French co-educational primary and secondary independent day school, situated in South Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and ...

, and studied philosophy and politics at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

Career

On graduating, Baum worked as a writer and researcher for

Time-Life Books Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and direct marketeer seller ...

on a 29-volume series of cook books called ''

The Good Cook ''The Good Cook'' is a series of instructional cookbooks published by Time-Life Books 1978-1980. It was sold on a month-to-month basis until the early 1990s and edited by cookbook author Richard Olney. Each volume Volume is a measure ...

'', before moving to the BBC, where she worked with

Michael Parkinson Sir Michael Parkinson (28 March 1935 – 16 August 2023) was an English television presenter, broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his television talk show '' Parkinson'' from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other ta ...

and later worked for

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...

on ''

The South Bank Show ''The South Bank Show'' is a British television arts magazine series originally produced by London Weekend Television and broadcast on ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new version of the series began 27 May 2012 on Sky Arts. Conceived, written, a ...

''. She moved with her then-partner to Australia in 1985 and was married soon afterwards. Baum was the founding editor of ''Good Reading'' magazine and worked as features editor for the Australian edition of ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

''. She was also the long-term presenter of the ABCTV book program ''Between the Lines'' until the program ended in 1998 and worked as an executive producer with

ABC Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

. In 1995, Baum took leave from the ABC, working as a researcher / producer on ''The World on a Plate'', a history of food around the world and in 2006, produced and co-wrote her first TV documentary, about Australian writer

Arthur Upfield Arthur William Upfield (1 September 1890 – 12 February 1964) was an English-Australian writer, best known for his works of detective fiction featuring Detective Inspector Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte of the Queensland Police Force, a mixed-race ...

, shown on SBS TV. Until recently Baum was editorial director of

Booktopia Booktopia Direct Pty Ltd is an Australian online bookseller. The company also owns Angus & Robertson, a major Australian online bookseller, publisher, and printer. In 2020, it had listed on the ASX, but a series of factors including a Post-COV ...

, Australia's largest online bookseller. She curates and hosts talks, blogging for arts organisations, and providing media consultancy. She has also designed a collection of rugs based on her photographic images for Designer Rugs. In 2018 Baum was Reader in Residence at the

State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...

. Caroline's first book, ''Only: A Singular Memoir'', was published in March 2017. It is the story of her unconventional childhood and explores what it means to be an

only child An only child is a person with no siblings, by birth or adoption. Overview Throughout history, only-children were relatively uncommon. From around the middle of the 20th century, birth rates and average family sizes fell sharply for a number of ...

—as both child and adult. Also what it means to be the daughter of two people damaged by trauma and tragedy, particularly a domineering and explosive father. Secrets are revealed and differences settled.

Bibliography

*Baum, Caroline and Carter, Earl (1989) 'Artists of the Australian Ballet' Sydney:Waterford Wedgwood Australia Ltd., *Baum, Caroline and McGuinness, Jan (1996) 'New York Stories' Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Corporation with Village Roadshow Pictures; VHS video *Aplin, Brett; Baum, Caroline; Bell, Janet; Matthews, Lisa; Steininger,Karin; (2007) 'In search of Bony'. Eight Mile Plains, Qld: Marcom Projets; DVD video

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baum, Caroline Australian women journalists Australian freelance journalists Australian radio journalists Australian television presenters Living people People educated at Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle Alumni of the University of York Australian women radio journalists Australian women television presenters Year of birth missing (living people)