At the recent 2025 Life Stories Australia (LSA) Conference in Melbourne, members had the pleasure of listening to Keynote speaker Katia Ariel, author of The Ferryman and The Swift Dark Tide. Her latest book was shortlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize and won the 2024 Society of Women Writers NSW Non-fiction Prize. Katia shared her journey of writing memoirs and biographies, focusing on personal themes like love, loss, motherhood, and sexuality. Katia has a remarkable ability to express herself with descriptions that are richly poetic. An amazing and thought provoking keynote speaker.
Foundation member Gillian Ednie shared a brief history of LSA, founded eight years ago. Thanks to Gillian, Mark Koehler, Annie Payne, Michael Collins, and inaugural President Paul English for establishing Australia’s only dedicated Life Story Association for professionals in the field.
The schedule also included a brief marketing update presented by LSA Board member Angela Mules, followed by a case study highlighting LSA Board member Des Tobin’s promotion of his most recent book, ‘It’s in the Genes’.
We had the opportunity to learn more about our newest Allied member, Lauren Goodram, and her business Hardy Audio. Lauren discussed how Hardy Audio supports authors in transforming their life stories from print to audiobook format.
Following that, Dr Wei Zhao and Professor Jenny Waycott of the Human Computer Interaction Group at The University of Melbourne delivered a presentation on their 3 year research project, Automation vs. Authenticity: Opportunities and Risks of Integrating Digital Technologies in Life Storytelling Practices. They’re conducting a 3 year project exploring the benefits that technologies present to older Australians wanting to record their life story.
The Conference concluded with a Q & A session with Abigail Nathan from Alex Adsett Literary. Abigail shared insights into what literary agents and publishers seek out when considering biographies or memoirs for publication. Overall, it was a fantastic day filled with engaging and varied topics, sparking lively discussions amongst both in-person attendees and virtual participants joining via Zoom.
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