Susan Midalia

Summary

Susan Midalia is the author of three short story collections, all shortlisted for major literary awards, and two literary novels: The Art of Persuasion and Everyday Madness. Her fiction is focuses on the so-called 'domestic' - family, relationships and personal identity - and on the affect of politics in everyday life. Susan also works as a fiction editor, manuscript appraiser, mentor, reviewer and workshop facilitator. She has judged numerous writing competitions and been a peer assessor for the Literature Board of the Australia Council. In 2020 she was appointed the Prose Editor for Westerly magazine. She is married, with two adult sons she regards as her most admirable creations.

Biography

Susan Midalia has a B.A. (Hons) from the University of Western Australia; an M.A. from Cambridge University in the UK; and a PhD in contemporary Australian women's fiction from UWA. She worked as an academic and teacher for over thirty years in a range of tertiary institutions, with a much briefer stint as a secondary school teacher in a girls' school. She retired in 2006 to fulfil a long-standing desire to write fiction, and has since produced three short story collections and two novels. Susan also works as a fiction editor, mentor, manuscript appraiser, workshop facilitator and reviewer, and is a regular guest at writers festivals. She also regularly runs writing workshops for people at Solaris Cancer Care, who wish to write for pleasure rather than publication.

Relevant qualifications

University qualifications: B.A. (first class honours), UWA
M.A. Cambridge University, UK
PhD in contemporary Australian women's fiction, UWA

Recent experience

Facilitator at Perth Writers Festival
Guest speaker at Mandurah Readers and Writers Festival
Facilitator at Backstories event, organised by the Centre for Stories
Manuscript appraisal and editing of a short story collection
Guest lecturer at Murdoch University on Politics and the Novel