Jurate Sasnaitis was born of Lithuanian parents and graduated in Fine Arts from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and then gained a Diploma of Education from Melbourne State College (now part of the University of Melbourne). Sasnaitis has worked as a drawing tutor at Prahran College of Technical and Further Education. In 1983-1984 she was co-organiser of the 'Faceless Woman' poetry readings for women writers. From 1983 to 1987 Sasnaitis was a member of the Fillia Press Publishing Collective and from 1984 to 1987, became a co-founder and volunteer worker at the Collective Works Bookshop, Melbourne. In 1985 she was writer-in-the-community for the Victorian Ministry of the Arts.
Sasnaitis has read her work at the 'Faceless Woman' readings and the Fringe Festival, Melbourne, 1983-1984, the Collective Works Bookshop, 1985-1990, the National Word Festival, Canberra, 1985, the Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide,1986, the Caulfield Festival, 1989 and La Mama Poetica, 1990.
Sasnaitis has also been the owner of The Greville Street Bookstore in Prahran, Melbourne. Her play, 'Spirals and Chatterboxes' was presented at the Clifton Hill Organ Factory in 1985.
