Female hysteria, aristocratic waxen heads, and a secret cadre of Australian codebreakers. Kirsty Murray explores these intriguing lost female histories with the authors who reveal them – Josephine Taylor, Belinda Lyons-Lee and Alli Sinclair. How did they discover them? What was needed to bring the stories to life?
The Panellists
Kirsty Murray (Chair)
Kirsty Murray is a multi-award-winning author of books for children and young adults. Her acclaimed series of historical fiction ‘Children of the Wind’ is studied in schools and universities around the world. Kirsty’s YA novel India Dark won a NSW Premier’s History Award. Kirsty has been a Creative Fellow of the State Library of Victoria, an Asialink Literature Resident in India and an ambassador for the Stella Prize in Schools program. Her most recent release, Strangers on Country, was co-authored with Dave Hartley and is shortlisted for the 2021 CBCA Book of the Year Awards. Kirsty is a director on the board of both the Australian Society of Authors and the Copyright Agency. For further information:
Belinda Lyons-Lee
Belinda Lyons-Lee was born in Geelong, Australia and still lives in the region with her husband and son. She has a BA, a GDip Ed and a MA(WritLit). Belinda has been teaching English and creative writing in secondary schools for nearly twenty years and the nineteenth century has been an obsession of hers for even longer. Belinda has had various articles published that explore writing, vocation, mental health and creativity. ‘Tussaud’ is her debut novel. For further information:
Alli Sinclair
Alli Sinclair is a multi award-winning author who spent her early adult years travelling the globe, intent on becoming an Indiana Jones in heels. She scaled mountains in Nepal, Argentina, and Peru, rafted the Ganges, and rode a camel in the Sahara. Argentina and Peru became her home for a few years and when she wasn’t working as a mountain or tour guide, Alli could be found dancing tango, salsa, merengue, and samba. Alli’s stories capture the romance and thrill of exploring new destinations and cultures that also take readers on a journey of discovery. Her latest release, Beneath the Parisian Skies, is a sweeping saga about love, truth, grief and passion–and what it takes to fulfil a dream. For further information:
Josephine Taylor
Josephine Taylor is an Associate Editor at Westerly Magazine and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Writing at Edith Cowan University. After developing chronic gynaecological pain in 2000, she surrendered her career as a psychotherapist. Years later, research into the condition informed her prize-winning PhD thesis, an investigative memoir. Josephine teaches in literary fiction and non-fiction, and presents on disorder and creativity. Her short-form writing has been anthologised and published widely and her first novel, Eye of a Rook, was released by Fremantle Press in 2021. Josephine will be the Emerging Writer-in-Residence at Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre in 2022. For further information:
