2024 Winner: First Peoples Alumnus Award (Arts, Education and Law)
Bachelor of Education (Special Education), Class of 2001
Lystra Rose is a multi-award-winning novelist of Guugu Yimithirr, Birri Gubba, Erub/Mua, and Scottish heritage who lives in Yugambeh-speaking Country (Gold Coast). When she’s not catching waves with her husband and two groms, Lystra is editor-in-chief of Surfing Life Magazine – the first female editor of a mainstream surf magazine.
Congratulations, how did you feel when you found out you won an Alumni Award?
Winning an Alumni Award is unexpected but an affirmation of the ongoing diligence and passion it takes to invest in the spoken and written word, which, hopefully, inspires the next generation of Australian First Nation authors and editors.
Can you share a valuable lesson you learned from a setback or failure in your career?
Sometimes, terrible things happen for no reason. I had a health issue that left me bedridden for three years (and it took four major surgeries to get me back on my feet). I was unable to work during that time. A near-death experience after my second operation gave me an epiphany that made me question my values and past decisions (including why I didn’t surf with my life partner), leading me to accept fear as my friend (not my foe).
This led to surfing, writing a novel and winning awards (seven roundels are on the latest cover of my debut novel, The Upwelling). When we feel overwhelmed, we lose hope. Self-belief and motivation return after we break massive tasks into doable, smaller steps. Mindsets shift if we focus on what we can do ‘right here, right now’.
Wealth can then be measured differently (and individually). My greatest riches are working from home, surfing with my family, and investing in the next generation of readers, writers, and editors. Finding my purpose and passion began with pain, the doors of my ‘old’ life closing, and me accepting ‘fear’. Then, I chose to do tasks—scared—that re-aligned my mind, body, and soul so I could create my way, anchored to the Dreaming, yet culture is living and evolving.
Why did you choose Griffith University?
Griffith University was the only university where I could become a Teacher of the Deaf.
How did your time at Griffith help shape your career?
As a writer, I draw from everything (how someone speaks and acts—watch how you treat an author, or you may end up in their next book). Meaningless threats aside, the other requirement of a young adult author is to be able to speak in front of crowds and organise and implement exciting and educational workshops for all ages. My education degree gave me the confidence and know-how to succeed.
What inspired you to pursue your current career path?
When I grew up, there were no young adult books written by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, nor editors, and I didn’t know anyone who owned their own business or worked for themselves from home.
What does a typical day/week at work look like for you?
I’ve (forcibly) learnt ‘fluidity’ as every day/week differs. There’s a lot of travelling, writing, editing, surfing, and researching, as well as visiting libraries, writing and surf festivals, schools, and conferences to speak, teach and implement cultural and writing workshops. My start and end times vary, as do my work days and weekends. Fluidity, or a flexible flow state, means I fit and flow with the creative needs of daily deadlines and do so with hyperfocus and lucidity.
The alternative is too stressful—the hours don’t equate to the physical possibility needed to accomplish my endless to-don’t and to-do lists. (Both are important as intuitively knowing when and how to say ‘no’ is non-negotiable.) Flexible flow state calms the soul of every creative.
Why? Because I’m an artist who’s mastering the art of living, according to L.P. Jacks’s inked explanation*:
“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between work and play; labour and leisure; mind and body; education and recreation. [S]he hardly knows which is which. [S]he simply pursues her vision of excellence through whatever [s]he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether [s]he is working or playing. To herself, [s]he always appears to be doing both.”
Flexible flow state blurs the colonial rules and allows me to re-employ Indigenous sustainable systems of circular connectedness.
*Please note: I’ve swapped ‘his’, ‘he’ and ‘himself’ for ‘she’, ‘her’, and ‘herself’ to cater for my gendered point-of-view from the original quote in the following reference: Lawrence Pearsall “L.P” Jacks (1860 – 1955), Education Thought Recreation, 1932, p1.
How do you stay updated with the latest trends and developments in your field?
I’m not trying to ‘stay’ up-to-date or ‘copy’ others in the surf magazine publishing and literary industries; instead, I create new trends and developments in my field. As the first female editor-in-chief of a mainstream surf mag in the world (for almost five years), I’ve been the first to use Indigenous languages, seasonal calendars (weaving them in with surf knowledge) and following my ancient cultural protocols to gain permission to do this in a respectful way. In my debut novel, The Upwelling, I blended First Nations Circular Storytelling and the Western Three-Act Structure. My trilogy will be the first of its kind regarding cultural protocols and the expansion of Indigenous knowledge systems. I employ a ‘cultural education via stealth’ writing and teaching methodology, and I invented an editing system stemming from my Indigenous oral storytelling.
Is there anything else that you want to mention?
My husband and I work from home. We homeschool our two teenagers and turn creative dreams into reality. I invented unique editing systems. My publishers believe I created a new genre. The more I de-colonise my thought processes (and responses), the more I’m free to invent new systems that change the industry.
Want more?
Meet the rest of our 2024 winners and discover how they are making it matter.