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The Beginner's Guide to Living (Text Publishing, February 2009) is Lia's debut YA novel.
Seventeen-year-old Will is in turmoil after the sudden death of his mother. His father drifts and his older brother, Adam, stays away from home. Isolated and angry, Will begins a search for the answers he craves. He uses his mum’s old camera to document the experience and scrambles to find an idea for which he can live and die. And as if things weren’t complicated enough, he falls for sixteen-year-old Taryn. His final exams are looming, but how will he get through the tangle of grief and philosophy, sex and love?
Her translation of Marie Darrieussecq’s novel, Tom Is Dead (Text Publishing) was released in April 2009. In 2007, she wrote the libretto in French for a contemporary ballet, Les Portes du Monde, performed in Switzerland.
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Lia’s poetry collection, THE POSSIBILITY OF FLIGHT (Interactive Publications) won the IP Picks Best Poetry Award for cutting edge contemporary writing in 2008.
The poems in this collection journey from ‘artesian memories’ of the Australian desert to the ‘shifting territory of the gods’ in rural Pakistan, as they move between love, language and faith. |
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As editor and co-initiator of the poetry section of MOVING GALLERIES - a poetry and art project released on Melbourne’s trains in 2006 - Lia believes in reminding people that poetry is a living art form.
The haiku and other forms of poetry displayed on MOVING GALLERIES are chosen entirely from public submissions, and children are amongst the poets included.
Given to wandering, Lia has taught English to the Russian mafia, scaled glaciers in Africa, tutored small barons in a French château, and crossed the Sahara on a motorbike. In quieter moments, she has worked as a language and creative writing teacher both in Australia and overseas.
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Offering workshops on poetic forms, creating poetry for public spaces, voice, performance, and getting started, among others, Lia enjoys working with students of all ages.
Click here for information on the Moving Galleries project, including updates and submission details. |
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I would like to thank you for recommending Lia Hills as a guest speaker and workshop presenter earlier in August.
In our School Assembly, she spoke most engagingly about her travels and her writing and gave encouraging messages to our students.
Other teachers also found her very engaging and commented on her beautiful speaking voice.
She ran two excellent one hour Poetry Writing workshops for our Year 9s and then our Year 10s … Lia managed to open up emotional channels for some girls who bravely shared their thoughts and feelings.
I would certainly be happy to have Lia as our guest writer/poet in the future and thank you once more for recommending her to us.
- Heidi Beattie, Head of English, Korowa Anglican Girls' School , October 2008
I was deeply moved by Will’s story [in The Beginner's Guide To Life] … Lia Hills is a strong new voice and I, for one, will be looking out for her next book.
- James Moloney (Author of Kill The Possum).
We found the time Lia spent with us inspiring and imaginative, and the ideas she discussed were very helpful to students in the creation of their own work. We’d be happy to have her back!
- Gail McIntyre, Kallista Primary School |
