Elfi H. M. Gilissen

Elfi H. M. Gilissen was born in Germany in 1969. Her mother is Flemish and her Dutch father is from Limburg in the Netherlands. After living in the Netherlands as a small child until 1976, her parents returned to Germany. It was there that she undertook her education, culminating in a degree at the University of Bonn in the field of translation (Chinese and Indonesian). After working for some years in Bonn, Cologne and Bielefeld, she moved to her 'home country', the Netherlands, to live with her Australian partner. Since then, she has written a number of books for Reise Know-How on various Australian topics, such as culture shock in Australia as a visitor, experiencing the out back and bush, a Sydney travel guide, the uniqueness of Australian English and a guide on how to immigrate to Australia. In the Kauderwelsch series, she has written further books on American English, Flemish and Dutch Slang. Having written the latter on Dutch Slang, it was then that she had the idea to write a similar book focussed on German slang, but this time written in English. Elfi continues to publish, with more titles already in the planning.