In late 1964 Dickens was visiting Australia to promote her works. It was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on 30 November 1964 that during a book signing session in Sydney she had been approached by a woman who handed her a copy of her book and enquired, presumably in a broad Australian accent, "How much is it?" Dickens reportedly misheard this as an instruction as to the name which she should include in the inscription ("Emma Chisit") and thus was born the phenomenon of "Strine" which filled the newspaper's letter columns and subsequently was the subject of a separate weekly article and, later, a series of humorous books. See also Dickens family References External links Biographical information and information on the author's children's works Profile at Persephone Books website 1915 births 1992 deaths Charles Dickens British children's writers British debutantes British women non-fiction writers British people of Czech-Jewish descent British expatriates in the United States Members of the Order of the British Empire Writers from London 20th-century British novelists National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children people 20th-century British non-fiction writers 20th-century British women writers British women novelists British women children's writers