Melissa Lucashenko

Fuelled by a passion to share untold stories of Aboriginal Peoples, Melissa Lucashenko has risen from humble beginnings to become one of the most prominent voices in Australian literature.

“There’s so much going on with First Nations mob. There’s so much to say, there’s a lot of ideas to put out and a lot of characters to bring into the public eye,” Melissa explained.

“It is a rare privilege to earn a living from writing when you’re from working class Blak origins.”

Melissa life’s work reflects her dedication and passion as a proud Bundjalung woman and has made her an acclaimed and award-winning novelist, essayist, and short story writer.

Starting her journey on Brisbane’s outer Southside, Melissa’s path helped open the way for many more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to be heard in Australia’s literary scene.

She is a fierce advocate for levelling the playing field for Indigenous and underclass youth, and strives for parity in Australia’s education and social systems.

“We should be building that sort of society for all kids, where it is normal and not exceptional that everyone can get a world-class education,” she said.

“We should be living in a society where being heard, being valued, is normal, not exceptional"

Her journey to literary success almost didn’t happen but Melissa remembers one moment that changed her life clearly.

“I was working in a local factory and didn’t know what university really was. I applied to Griffith and decided if I got in, I would go. If not, I was going to buy a better car and go into debt to do it. That decision was a real crossroads in my life,” she said.

Melissa was accepted to study at Griffith in 1986 and while she achieved her Bachelor of Public Policy with Honours, it was the supportive words of one of her first year tutors which really spurred her on.

“I had a tutor who stopped me in the common room in my first year. I was about to drop out, but she encouraged me not to and I am so glad. It really changed my life,” she said.

“I fondly remember my teachers John Wanna and Ciaran O’Faircheallaigh from the Public Policy course.

"They were very influential on me during my undergraduate degree. They were incredibly supportive, engaging and they really exploded my brain, in a good way."

After her studies, Melissa moved to Canberra and briefly worked for the Prime Minister’s Office, with none other than Australia’s 23^rd Prime Minister, political and cultural icon Bob Hawke, at the helm.

After a short stint in the nation’s capital, Melissa made the decision to move back home to Logan City and began working for the Queensland Government.

She says her ‘serious writing’ phase came shortly after that.

“Serious writing for me started in the 1990s while I was travelling with my young family for my partners work,” she said.

Melissa started writing in earnest while in Tonga and feels eternally grateful that she is able to craft novels and stories that represent the realities of Aboriginal and underclass life.

“Writing for me is freedom. Freedom to lose yourself in your creative world for hours a day - and freedom to write in a pair of daggy old shorts and a ripped tee-shirt,” she explained.

Melissa has published six acclaimed novels and dozens of essays, articles and poems in various publications since 1997. She has won or been shortlisted for many prominent literary awards both in Australia and overseas.

Of note, her 2018 novel, Too Much Lip won Australia’s foremost literary prize, the Miles Franklin Award, in 2019 as well as the Queensland Literary Award for a work of State Significance.

She also won a Walkley Award in 2013 for Long Form Journalism for her essay in Griffith Review, “Sinking below sight”. Only one other writer, Frank Moorhouse, has achieved the distinction of winning both a Miles Franklin and a Walkley Award.