Some may say she’s Australia’s answer to Elizabeth Gilbert….she’s eaten, prayed and loved in some exotic and spiritual parts of the world and she has some amazing and quirky stories to tell. In fact, story telling is Ange’s great gift to the world. Whether it’s working as an accomplished journalist, mesmerising her audiences with her soulful, folk/jazz melodies or writing pieces of literary genius, she has honed her craft.

Ange is happy to call the Sunshine Coast home now, after years of travelling abroad and  touring Australia after the release of her album ‘Aniseed Tea’ in 2009. She spent three years writing music when she returned from overseas and developed the art of story telling through four minute songs. Then she discovered she could develop a four minute song into three chapters (and more)!! So it was a natural progression for Ange to write a novel and she says the Sunshine Coast was the perfect ‘creative hub’ to conceive her new book, “The Buffalo Funeral”.

As we read the book and listen to her album, we feel the full gamut of human emotion, vicariously experiencing her adventures from overseas. Ange’s candour and realness is refreshing - she confesses a broken heart resulted in her moving to Thailand at the age of 22 to recreate herself. “The beauty of moving to a new country is that you have the power to totally reinvent yourself,” she says.

Once she settled in Thailand, Ange led somewhat of a dual life; she worked as a foreign correspondent- TV reporter by day and then let loose as a solo artist singing Joni Mitchell songs in a Bangkok bar at night. As she was finding herself, her passion for singing and writing songs was simmering away in the ‘land of smiles’…. this creative freedom also gave her some respite from the world of journalism.

The life of a hectic news reporter meant she covered many interesting political stories, and she also had a rare interview with Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi which she says was a profound experience and a real career highlight. She also got chased by a tiger through a monastery and attended a funeral of a famous movie star buffalo.

Although, she says her most life changing experience overseas was performing in a folk music band in Bangkok. “I’d been singing solo for a few months when two Thai musicians asked me to join their band. They took me under their wing and taught me so much about music.”

She says the leader of the band, a Buddhist named P’Noi, became a teacher to her. “He had a gift for putting things into perspective that was not patronising. He showed me a different way of viewing the world, especially given I’d been raised with somewhat of a ‘glass is half empty’ idea of life. For P’Noi, the glass was always full,” she says.

“But it wasn’t just P’Noi’s teachings that helped me find inner peace. It was living in Bangkok – a city that forces you to be present, thanks to all of its beeping and buzzing and beautiful chaos. When you’re struck in a mega traffic jam you can either stress out, or go with the flow and I learnt the art of the latter in Thailand.”

When Ange returned from overseas it was quite an adjustment. She secured a corporate PR job in Sydney, which gave her the skills and confidence to eventually become a freelance communications consultant on the Sunshine Coast a year later. It was also on the Coast that she began to spread her creative wings. “There’s such a vibrant arts community and really supportive creative people around. The Coast is where I found a happy medium between earning a living and pursuing my passions.”

Her journey as a creative person has been inspiring and transformational. “I’m still trying to get my head around my art. Sometimes it will take me months to write a song and other times the lyrics and chords will pop out in the space of an hour.” She also says her creativity was heightened during periods of tragedy in her life and served as a cathartic form of expression. “Relationship breakups have been good for me as I have got quite a few songs and quite a few chapters out of them,” she laughs.  When Ange met her current partner and entered into a happy relationship, her first thought was, ‘Will I still be creative in the same way?’ Thankfully she has found new inspiration by looking outward and telling other people’s stories. She’s been busy writing songs for her second album which will have an old school jazz vibe.

Ange says while she doesn’t ‘do’ five year plans, she sees herself staying on the Coast but she wouldn’t rule out a trip to the ‘land of smiles’ again someday.

Ange Takats will appear at the Byron Bay Writers Festival, August 5-7 where she’ll be particpating in a number of panels as well as performing her original music. She’ll also be taking part in the ‘Paul Kelly and Festival Friends’ concert at the Great Northern Hotel on Saturday 6 during the festival. For more info about Ange Takats, visit: www.angetakats.com.au