Lesley Synge – writer & poet, presenter & mentor

Lesley was born under the Tropic of Capricorn. She writes in many genres, always with a passion to connect and to share insights into the human condition. She welcomes invitations to give author talks on her latest books, Know Their Names:Queensland government’s Aboriginal workers and the system that exploited them (2024) and Work: new and selected poems (2025).

Lesley holds teaching and writing qualifications from the University of Queensland (BA, Dip Ed, MA). She’s also studied writing for stage, film & TV.

Awards

Lesley won the fiction awards of Ravello Tales Award Italy 2018 (When Giuseppe Met Jackie) and Interactive Press Fiction Award 2002 (Cry Ma Ma to the Moon), and numerous awards for short stories in early career. Most recently she won the Arts Central Queensland Lorna McDonald Essay Prize three times and flourished on residencies at Kings Bridge Caretaker’s Cottage in Launceston, and Varuna, The National Writers House, Katoomba.

Background

Lesley found early success with short stories after an initial career as a high school teacher. She soon began teaching writing and founded Real Life Stories Workshop in 1996 to meet a community need and has helped thousands of people – from Far North Queensland to the Gold Coast and ‘out West’ – to write about their lives. She has also presented poetry workshops in New Zealand and Italy. Besides mentoring new writers (Bob Cleland Big Road), she has also supported whole communities to create anthologies (she edited Nine Lives: Personal Stories of Mental Illness and Black Possum Diaries Sunshine Coast hinterland). She tutored University of Queensland’s first creative writing course for undergraduates, and continues to mentor clients across many genres, including those from the Queensland Writers Centre ‘Writers Surgery’ program.

A former high school librarian, she is a lifelong supporter of libraries. The Fryer Library, State Library of Queensland, Northern Territory Library and a number of municipal libraries all hold archives donated by Lesley.

A founding member of Queensland Writers Centre (QWC), Oral History Association (Qld), and a publishing co-op in Maleny, her early credits are under the name Lesley Singh. She is currently a member of Australian Society of Authors, Royal Historical Association of Queensland, and QWC. Lesley acknowledges early career grants from Arts Queensland, Australia Council, Regional Arts Development Fund, and University of Queensland Graduate School.

Bookings

To book an author event, writing workshop, or gain assistance with your book, please use the Contact page.

A poem from Organic Sister (Post Pressed, 2005)

Readers Anonymous

Hello, my name’s Lesley
and I’m addicted.
It was unintentional
but you’ll appreciate
books
when they landed on my pillow
lingered.
I liked their intelligence.
That’s how it started…”