During the 1990s, Susan Carson was a postgraduate at the University of Queensland, completing an MA on Charmian Clift (1994) and a PhD on Eleanor Dark (1999). After working as a journalist in Sydney and Brisbane for some time, specialising in issues relating to information technology, she accepted a lectureship in creative writing and cultural studies at the Queensland University of Technology. In 2001, she was on the editorial committee of the Australian Women's Book Review.