About the Author

Steve has taught English and History in High Schools on the Far North Coast of NSW for over 20 years. He operated his own video production business, Pandanus Video Productions in the 1990s. He was a founding member of the Open Slather Film Festival (a festival sponsored by Southern Cross University Union, Ballina District Community Services Association, Pandanus Video Productions and Ballina Youth Services). He became involved in teaching marginalised students in education at this time. He taught video production at TAFE facilitating such programs as Goorie workskills at Ballina TAFE, Kids at Risk at Lismore TAFE, Women Back to Work through Lismore TAFE and Juvenile Justice Lismore TAFE.Steve has has been passionate about Indigenous students and stories since the early 1990s. He worked with Indigenous students at Ballina High school on a number of projects, produced the award winning Indigenous short film, 'Small Man Hairy Man, ' and the BUNSEP (Bundjalung Stormwater Education Project) DVD with Ballina, Kyogle, Lismore and Casino Shire Councils. More recently, Steve consulted with a group of elders from Ballina to publish his first novel, 'The Magpie and the Snake, ' (2021) a YA novel that celebrates the culture and the lifestyle of the Nyangbal people, a clan of Bundjalung people, living in Ballina around 1820 on the cusp of British colonisation in the area. He has a picture book, 'Gawngan and the Marriage Tree, ' which is due for release October and the sequel to his novel 'The Magpie and the Snake', 'Savages, ' which is due out in December 2022.

Reviews

"It's like we've each got a piece of the puzzle but Trotter's got them all and put them into a book." Lenny Moran, proud Nyangbal man from the Bundjalung Nation. "I couldn't put it down. I can't wait for the sequel." Kerry Stevenson, retired Head Teacher Science.