Laurie Steed

Summary

Laurie Steed is an author, editor, mentor, creative writing teacher, and manuscript assessor from Perth, Western Australia. He is the editor of Shibboleth and other stories, published in 2016, and his debut novel, You Belong Here, was published in 2018 and shortlisted for the 2018 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards. His second book, Greater City Shadows, won the 2021 Henry Handel Richardson Flagship Fellowship for short story writing and has been shortlisted for the 2022 Dorothy Hewett Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. His third book, Better Than Me: The Story of a Dad will be published by Fremantle Press in 2023.

Biography

Laurie Steed is the award-winning author of You Belong Here, published in 2018 and shortlisted for the 2018 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, and the editor of Shibboleth and other stories, published in 2016. His fiction has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and has appeared in Best Australian Stories, Award Winning Australian Writing, The Review of Australian Fiction, The Age, Meanjin, Westerly, Island, and elsewhere. His non-fiction has been published in Australian Book Review, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, The Emerging Writers Festival Reader, and The Emerging Writer: An Insider’s Guide to Growing Your Writing.

He is the winner of the 2021 Henry Handel Richardson Flagship Fellowship for short story writing, and won the 2012 Patricia Hackett Prize for Fiction and the Creative Works Prize at the 2013 UWA Higher Degree by Research Achievement Awards. A recipient of funded fellowships from The University of Iowa, The Baltic Writing Residency, The Elizabeth Kostova Foundation, Varuna - The National Writer's House, and The Katharine Susannah Prichard Foundation, he completed his PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Western Australia in 2015.

He currently facilitates The Subcommittee, an online short fiction workshop and feedback space for writers, and has previously worked in advisory roles for the Small Press Network, The Emerging Writers Festival and The Australia Council for the Arts. He also shares his skills and industry experience as a manuscript assessor, short story competition judge, creative writing teacher, and mentor — particularly with emerging writers. He knows how demanding the literary world can be, especially when beginning a career, and is passionate about providing a nurturing environment for writers wanting to push themselves as creative professionals.

Early in his career, Laurie won fellowships to write and study in Iowa and Bulgaria. He picked up tips, tricks and concepts not taught in other workshops, or really anywhere else on the Australian literary landscape. Laurie now uses that knowledge to inspire new writers to do their best work, to be proud of their accomplishments and their place in the industry.

Relevant qualifications

2015: PhD (Creative Writing) - UWA
2010: Master of Publishing and Editing - Monash University
2002: Bachelor of Journalism - Murdoch University
1997: Bachelor of Arts (Media Studies) - Edith Cowan University

Recent experience

May 2022 - Interview with Ruth McIver, Author of I Shot The Devil, for City of Vincent Libaries

2018 - 2022 Creative Writing Workshop Facilitator, City of Armadale Libraries

2020 Romance Writers of Australia Virtual Conference 2020 : Workshop Presenter

2020 Perth Festival: Panel Facilitator - 'Invisible Boys' (featuring Holden Sheppard) and 'You Don't Know Me' (featuring Sara Foster)

2019 Maylands Library: NaNoWriMo Workshop, 'The Six Keys to Creating Great Characters', Workshop Instructor

2019 KSP Spring Story Retreat: Teacher, Co-coordinator and Workshop Instructor

2019 English Teachers Association of Western Australia Conference - Alexandra Solosy Memorial Lecture

2019 Perth Festival: Panel Facilitator - 'Collected Works' (featuring Holden Sheppard, Cassie Lynch, Alec Patric, and Zoe Deleuil) and 'Aesthetics, Arguments and Anthills' (featuring Susan Midalia, Gail Jones, and Greg Fleet)

2018 KSP First Edition Weekend Writers' Retreat: Teacher, Co-coordinator and Workshop Instructor

2018 New Norcia Writers' Festival: Interviewed by Will Yeoman about You Belong Here.

2018 Perth Festival: Interviewed by Ray Glickman about You Belong Here. Panel guest for 'Performance' anxiety (featuring myself, Robert Lukins and Rachel Khong), moderated by Susan Midalia.