Susan Midalia is the author of three collections of short stories, A History of the Beanbag, An Unknown Sky and Feet to the Stars. Her collections have been shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards and twice for the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards. She has a PhD in contemporary Australian women's fiction and has published on the subject in Australian and international literary journals. She retired from academia in 2007 to become a full-time writer, freelance editor and workshop facilitator. She is the author of two novels: The Art of Persuasion (2018) and Everyday Madness (2021).
Susan has edited work by some brilliant writers, including Gail Jones, Marcella Polain, Amanda Curtin, Annabel Smith, Nicole Sinclair, Kathleen Fallon and Morgan Yasbincek. She remains grateful for the intelligent and rigorous editing of her own work by Linda Martin, Nicola Redhouse and Georgia Richter.
Susan has also been the judge of a number of literary competitions, including the Western Australian Premiers Book Awards, the T. A. Hungerford Award, the Margaret River Press Short Story Competition, the Lyndall Haddow Short Story Competition, the Katharine Susannah Prichard Short Fiction Award and the Peter Cowan Short Story Competition. She has also served as a peer assessor on the Literature Board of the Australia Council.
She works as a mentor for emerging writers from a range of backgrounds, including members of the LGBQTI community, migrants and young people with mental health issues.
She was the chairperson of the 2018 Australian Short Story Festival, held in Perth in October 2018.
Susan is the current Prose Fiction editor for Westerly, Western Australia’s oldest and widely respected literary journal.