Lee Battersby

I was born in Nottingham in 1970, departing from a snow-covered city in 1975 directly to Kambalda, a town on the edge of Australia’s largest desert. In November.The resultant culture shock is probably to blame for a lot of things, note least the feeling that I have never really belonged anywhere, and the strange twitch I get in my left eye whenever I see pebble gravel.

I am the author of over 80 stories in Australia, the US and Europe, with appearances in markets as Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror, Year’s Best Australian SF & F, and Writers of the Future. I was the first West Australian winner in the Writers of the Future competition.

I’ve taught at Clarion South and developed and delivered a six-week Writing the SF Short Story course for the Australian Writers Marketplace. My work has been praised for its consistent attention to voice and narrative muscle, and has resulted in a number of awards including the Aurealis, Australia Shadows, White Raven and Australian SF ‘Ditmar’ gongs. My third novel, Magrit, was shortlisted for the 2017 NSW Premier’s prize.

I live with my wife, writer Lyn Battersby and an increasingly weird mob of kids. I am sadly obsessed with Lego, Nottingham Forest football club, dinosaurs and Daleks. I’ve been a stand-up comic, tennis coach, cartoonist, poet, and Arts & Culture coordinator for a local Council in previous times.