Cirrus@Austlit

Susan Hawthorne is an author of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction.

Her poetry collection Cow was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Poetry Prize in the 2012 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, and was also a finalist in the 2012 Audre Lorde Lesbian Poetry Prize (USA). Earth’s Breath was shortlisted for the 2010 Judith Wright Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in annual Best Australian Poems anthologies, been broadcast on Poetica and other Radio National programs, and published around the world in literary journals and anthologies.

She has had two international residencies. In 2013, she was Literature Resident at the BR Whiting Studio in Rome, and in 2009, she was Asialink Resident at the University of Madras, Chennai, India.

A former senior editor at Penguin Books, Susan Hawthorne is a co-founder with Renate Klein of Australian feminist publisher Spinifex Press, established in 1991. She gained her PhD in Women's Studies at the University of Melbourne, has taught Philosophy, Education, Literature and Women's Studies at tertiary level, and has been an Academic Associate at Victoria University and Adjunct Professor in Writing at James Cook University.

She has supervised (both PhDs and MAs) and mentored numerous writers in universities and through the Australian Society of Authors. She is Director of Spinifex Press, playing a leading role in independent publishing and eBook publishing, and is the English-language Co-ordinator at the International Alliance of Independent Publishers (based in Paris).

Several of her books have been translated into German and Spanish.

Susan Hawthorne is fascinated by mythology and ancient languages, and has studied Sanskrit, Ancient Greek, and Latin. For many years, she wrote scripts and performed in the Performing Older Women’s Circus and the Women’s Circus. She has written works for solo aerials and poetic text, which she has performed at writers' festivals and conferences in Australia, New Zealand, USA, and India.