Samuel Kriek is the eldest member of the Kensington & Norwood Writers' Group. He was born in Rotterdam on 3.Febr. 1926, the second son in a Dutch family. His mother was Jewish, his father nominal Roman Catholic. Married to Theodora Bakker two years after the Second World War, the couple migrated to Australia in 1952. With their five children Samuel and Theodora moved from Hamilton Victoria, to Adelaide, South Australia seventeen years later and have resided in the Kensington Norwood & St Peters area since.

The Nazi occupation of Holland from 1940 till 1945 had made it impossible for young Samuel to study or further his education. Although surviving the Holocaust, he was forced to hide, lie and steal for nearly three years, just to remain alive.

Opportunity to study came when he was forty-five years old and accepted for a study course in Psychiatric Social Work soon after arrival in Adelaide. He held the position of Social Worker with the Mental Health Services, Hospital Department South Australia for twenty years until retirement, aged sixty-five.

After retirement Samuel wrote and published his autobiography (called Forty Years) and wrote a number of booklets and teaching letters, focussing on Hebrew roots of the Christian Faith.

At present, Samuel is finishing another book which will be called Unfinished Business and hopes to have it published towards the end of 2008. Its purpose is to leave it as a legacy for his children and grandchildren and as an educational tool for anyone interested in counselling or learning to be of self help in times of personal trauma’s and needs.

In August 2007 Samuel was diagnosed with un-operable cancer. His first thought was the feeling of sadness because of not being able to finish the manuscript. The remarkable true story will be an easy layman’s guide on how to come to terms with losses and the Unfinished Business in our life. Members of the Kensington Norwood & St Peters Writers' Group are also involved with its editing.

His autobiography, called Forty Years, is available from Borders Books, Adelaide or via the Kensington & Norwood Writers' Group.