TAMARA LAZAROFF
Tamara Lazaroff is a Brisbane/Meanjin-based writer of fiction and narrative nonfiction, and an occasional producer of zines. She has a particular interest in hidden histories, the migrant experience, queer and feminist themes, intentional solitude, social connection, and the blurry line between memory and imagination.
Her short stories and personal essays have appeared widely in Australian, New Zealand and UK literary journals and magazines, including Meanjin, Southerly, The Big Issue, Gargouille, Feminartsy, Headland and The Wrong Quarterly, among many others. Radio National has audio-produced the following pieces: ‘The Sock Seller’s Socks, The Plum Picker’s Plums’ and ‘Bunny Men’. She also writes reviews and conducts author interviews for publications such as Verity La and Mascara Literary Review.
Her microcollection, In My Father’s Village & Other Freedom Stories, was recently shortlisted for the Woollahra Digital Literary Award (2020), and is available as an e-book through Pollitecon Publications (Australia). It's both a love letter and grief letter to the Republic of North Macedonia. The collection was supported by the 2018 HARDCOPY Manuscript Development Program, and made possible by a Skopje University/Macquarie University scholarship to study in Macedonia; a Copyright Agency IGNITE grant; and residencies at the Can Serrat International Arts Centre (Spain) and House Conspiracy (Brisbane).
She is also a graduate of the 2019 Summer Literary Seminar (Georgia), Naropa's University Summer Writing Program (USA) and has also undertaken a residency at Arteles Arts Centre (Finland). She has been awarded career development funding by Arts Queensland and the Queensland Writers' Centre, and most recently a Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund grant to develop new longform work.
Alongside her writing practice, Tamara teaches creative writing and adult literacy skills, and is a long-time yoga enthusiast and a bit of a witch on the edge of the forest. In mid-2020, she will be commencing part-time postgraduate studies in comparative religion, with a particular focus on alternative spiritualities and practices of embodiment, and with a view towards a new collection of stories.