AustLit
Visual artist and author Sue McPherson was born in Sydney to an Aboriginal mother from Wiradjuri country and a Torres Strait Islander father. She was a Ward of the State for a number of years before been adopted into the McPherson family, land owners from the Batlow area in southern New South Wales. After leaving school McPherson worked in various jobs before moving to Wagga Wagga, New South Wales where she worked with the Regional Aboriginal Land Council. Later she gained her Bachelor of Teaching from Charles Sturt University, and worked as a teacher at the Riverina Institute of TAFE.
McPherson’s inspiration to write came from her sons; this prompted her to take up a writing workshop advertised in the local paper in Coolum, Queensland. Subsequently, she began writing her first novel Grace Beside Me (2012), which she entered the first manuscript in the Black& Write! Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Writing Fellowship and was a joint winner in 2011. And, in 2013 it was shortlisted in the Young Adult category of the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards; McPherson was the only first time novelist on the shortlist. Her novel also gained recognition by the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany and was listed on the White Raven’s list for 2013. (A list of books that are deemed to deserve worldwide attention because of their universal themes and/or, their exceptional and innovative artistic and literary style and design). McPherson continues to live on the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane. (Brisbane Writers Festival; Magabala Books website; Queensland Government website; State Library of Queensland website; The Gallery Eumundi website)
— Appears in: In Conversation with BlackWords St Lucia : AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource , 2014 2014 y
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , August vol. 56 no. 3 2012 2012 (p. 14-15) y
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 15 August 2013 2013 (p. 59) y


— Appears in: The Book That Made Me Newtown : Walker Books Australia , 2016 2016 y

— Appears in: National Indigenous Times , 9 May no. 263 2012 2012 (p. 39) y
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 21 September no. 510 2011 2011 (p. 21) y


— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 21 - 22 May 2011 2011 (p. 21) y
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 7 March no. 521 2012 2012 (p. 18) y

— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 2 - 3 June 2012 2012 (p. 22) y
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 24 January no. 668 2018 2018 (p. 14) y
— Appears in: National Indigenous Times , 4 April no. 258 2012 2012 (p. 30) y
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , August vol. 56 no. 3 2012 2012 (p. 38) y
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking about Books for Children , May vol. 27 no. 2 2012 2012 (p. 41-42) y
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 17 February 2018 2018 (p. 29) y
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , February/March vol. 91 no. 7 2012 2012 (p. 34) y

— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 7-8 July 2012 2012 (p. 23) y
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 3 2014 2014 y