30 Seconds with

Who are you?

A Murri woman living on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country, navigating a PhD, freelance work and trying to figure out the dream to be a full-time writer while still feeding herself. 

What’s your most recent work?

My debut novel, Ghost Bird, is an award-winning YA novel that came out in October 2019, and has just this month - October 2021 - been published in the UK and other Commonwealth territories. 

What’s your best advice about writing?

Figure out what works for you and apply it!

If you could change one thing about the Australian writing sector, what would it be?

Recognition of the value that creatives bring to our society, and the willingness to pay a proper wage for that work.

How has ACT Writers (MARION) assisted you?

Too many ways to count - access to workshops and writers’ groups, the Anne Edgeworth Fellowship sent me home to research my first book, opportunities to publish my writing, the regular emails listing opportunities and awards that are open, as well as local literary events, supporting me when I published, etc, etc.

What are you currently reading?

I've had a terrible year and lockdown is not helping, so I've turned to comfort reading my favourite paranormal romances from Ilona Andrews, Kresley Cole, and a few others.

Who’s a living author you’d like to champion and why?

This is too hard because it's been a difficult time for all writers, especially debut novelists, but if I'm forced to pick I'd say Gary Lonesborough and his brilliant book, The Boy From the Mish.

Lisa Fuller is a Murri woman originally from Queensland, who has lived in Canberra since 2006. She is currently doing her PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Canberra. Lisa is an award-winning writer, sessional academic and freelance writer/editor. Her debut novel, Ghost Bird, has won multiple awards, including the 2020 Queensland Literary Awards Griffith University Young Adult Book Award and ACT Book of the Year. She has previously published poetry and short pieces in several publications. Lisa is owned by an insane staffy, lives in a renovation with a patient partner, and battles her inner critic every day.