Lisbet De Castro Lopo was born in Denmark and graduated from the University of Copenhagen with a Master of Science (equiv.) degree and Diploma of Education before undertaking postgraduate study, tutoring and lecturing in the United States. At the University of Wisconsin she was awarded a Master of Arts degree and was also married there. In 1967 she migrated to Perth, Western Australia, with her husband and two children. De Castro Lopo moved to Newcastle and, after graduating as a Doctor of Philosophy, continued her career as an academic teacher. From 1981 to 1992 she was coordinator of the Hunter Area Migrant Health Service's Interpreter Service, and Danish interpreter for the Migrant Health Service and the Ethnic Affairs Commission. From 1985 to 1992 she was Honorary Secretary of the management committee of the Newcastle and Hunter Migrant Resource Centre.
On her retirement in 1992, De Castro Lopo joined the Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW), Hunter Region, served as its president (1994-1997) and was vice-president in 1998. During her presidency De Castro Lopo was also the Hunter Writers' Centre representative on the State Council of the FAW. She was a member of the Hunter Writers' Centre from its inception, and also a member of the NSW Writers' Centre and the National Book Council of Australia.
De Castro Lopo published stories, reviews, essays and two novels of which her first was published in 1995. In January 1997, De Castro Lopo was one of the seven founders of what became Catchfire Press. In her last years she worked also as a travel guide to groups of elderly Danish tourists visiting Newcastle and the Hunter, and as a lecturer on Australian social and cultural life.
