Susan Midalia hails from Perth, and has been closely involved with the development of the Australian Short Story Festival: as a committee member and guest writer for the inaugural 2016 ASSF held in Perth; as a guest of the 2017 Adelaide ASSF; as the chairperson of the 2018 ASSF committee; and as a member of the ASSF board. Susan has a PhD in contemporary Australian women’s fiction and has published on the subject in national and international literary journals and anthologies. Since becoming a full-time fiction writer in 2006, she has written three collections of short stories, all shortlisted for major Australian literary awards: A History of the Beanbag(20017), An Unknown Sky(2012), and Feet to the Stars(2015). Her short fiction has also been published in Westerly, Southerly and Island, and in the anthologies New Australian Stories 1 and 2, Crush and Landmarks. Susan’s debut novel The Art of Persuasionwas published in 2018, and her second novel will be released early in 2021. She also works as a freelance editor, workshop facilitator and mentor. She is currently enjoying the challenges of writing micro-fiction and hopes to reach a potentially publishable word count in another decade or two.
