Author
Lisa Collyer is a writer and educator based in Boorloo (Perth, Western Australia). She is the author of the poetry collection, How To Order Eggs Sunny Side Up (2023) (short-listed for The Dorothy Hewett Award) and published with Life Before Man Books. Her personal essay, Prolonged Exposure is published in the anthology, Women of a Certain Courage (2025) with Fremantle Press. Her poem, The Grape Pickers was short-listed for the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize (2025). She recently won an artist residence at Bundanon Art Museum (2025) where she will create new work on climate grief. Her second poetry collection, Gold Digger will be published in September, 2025.
Artwork by visual artist, Phil Day.
Photograph by Jess Gately Photography
Gold Digger challenges the enduring myths of domesticity by portraying women as breadwinners, unearthing the realities of labour, aspiration, and social mobility. Collyer deftly reveals how women’s work—often overlooked or undervalued—has always been present, from the kitchen to the corridors of power. Motifs of unfair play and erasure echo throughout, reaching even the highest tiers of government, including Parliament House.
The collection features ‘The Grape Picker[s]’, shortlisted for the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize (2025).
Artwork by visual artist, Phil Day.
Women of a Certain Courage is an uplifting read that follows the long tradition of women supporting and guiding other women.
These 18 stories of courage will have you weeping, laughing and celebrating moments of bravery. With tales of activism, of finding a voice, escaping domestic violence, and much more, Women of a Certain Courage will inspire awe with the myriad ways women prevail and demonstrate courage.
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
In particular, Lisa Collyer’s ‘Prolonged Exposure’ stood out to me for its experimentation with form and fragmented storytelling, which results in a unique and emotionally raw exploration of what it means to be courageous.
Books+Publishing
How to Order Eggs Sunny Side Up is a conversation in poems on the taboo and abject bodies of women. Collyer disrupts selflessness, tackling the disquieting dilemmas of feminine space with erotic and comic freedom.
How to Order Eggs Sunny Side Up was shortlisted for the Dorothy Hewett Award for an unpublished manuscript.
Praise for How to Order Eggs Sunny Side Up
‘Searing poetry of feminine experience, How to Order Eggs Sunny Side Up is unashamedly visceral and lights up with flashes of literary incandescence. Formally inventive, bleakly comic, slyly erotic – these are poems which bristle with edges and glint like cut gems. Each poem arrives like a dare, refusing euphemism or domestication.’
— Judges of the Dorothy Hewett Award
My services
Performance Poetry
"In this show, she was joined by Lisa Collyer, for two sets of poetic musical performances. Using only a select few words prior to commencing their duet, the two converse through their performances, offering each other space to be creative and also amplifying elements of one another’s performance to maximise their effect."
Meet the author talk and reading
Lisa Collyer is an engaging public speaker who can cater an author talk to your event; facilitate public conversation; and recite poetry at festivals, libraries, and private salons.
Book reviews
Gain valuable insights and perspectives with Lisa Collyer's thoughtful and engaging book reviews.
Writing workshops
Enhance your writing skills and unleash your creativity in Lisa Collyer's engaging and informed writing workshops.
"There’s a smouldering, dangerous, pyrotechnical atmosphere to her work in its staccato rhythms and stabs and many of the poems possess stark uncompromising ends."
Lucy Dougan
"'Searing poetry of feminine experience, How to Order Eggs Sunny Side Up is unashamedly visceral and lights up with flashes of literary incandescence. Formally inventive, bleakly comic, slyly erotic – these are poems which bristle with edges and glint like cut gems. Each poem arrives like a dare, refusing euphemism or domestication.'"
Judges' comment: Dorothy Hewett Award 2022
"There’s a contained fury in this poem, established through the very careful and precise deployment of diction and lineation. It allows Collyer to shift between architectural scene, historic moment and the all too fragile human body. "
Caitlin Maling
Create Your Own Website With Webador