TAMARA LAZAROFF
Hello and welcome to my website. I’m a Macedonian-Australian writer of fiction, creative nonfiction and things in the blurry-between. I also make zines, and I live in Brisbane/Meanjin on Yuggera and Turrbal country. Currently, I'm working on my first long-form work, Hermit Girls (To The Big Witch!) (fiction), which was supported in its very early stages by the Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund.
In late 2020, my novella Husk, Root, Bone was published online by Big Fiction Magazine (USA). This project was made possible by a Copyright Agency IGNITE grant, the HARDCOPY Manuscript Development Program, and was a Fiction Category finalist for the 2018 Summer Literary Seminar Contest (Georgia/USA/Canada.)
My micro-collection In My Father’s Village & Other Freedom Stories is available as a free-access e-book through Pollitecon Publications (Australia), and was shortlisted for the 2020 Woollahra Digital Literary Award (Fiction). Special thanks to Skopje University and Macquarie University for enabling me to study for a period in Macedonia; and to Can Serrat International Arts Centre (Spain) and House Conspiracy (Brisbane) for providing space and time in which to write. I’m grateful for all of these opportunities, and to Pollitecon Publications, especially, for providing a home for the collection as a whole.
My short stories and personal essays have appeared widely in Australian, New Zealand, UK and US literary journals and magazines, including Meanjin, Southerly, The Big Issue, Gargouille, TEXT, Feminartsy, Headland, The Wrong Quarterly, Transnational Literature, Hecate, Porridge, Ibis House, Tincture, Girls Will Be Girls, Page 17, Famous Reporter, We'll Never Have Paris and more, and anthologised in Heroines (The Neo Perennial Press). Radio National has audio-produced a couple of pieces; you can listen to them here and here. I've also written reviews and conducted author interviews for publications such as Mascara Literary Review. Additionally, my work has won the Biennial Literary Award, been highly commended for the Ink Tears Short Story Competition, and longlisted for the Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize and Fish Short Story Prize. I am a graduate of the 2019 Summer Literary Seminar (Georgia), Naropa University's Summer Writing Program (USA) and have undertaken a residency at Arteles Arts Centre (Finland).
Alongside my writing practice, I'm completing a Masters in Comparative Religion, and I work in Community Services.