MitgliedSusan_Marshall(She/Her)

Susan L Marshall is an avid reader of a range of genres. She particularly loves Romanticism, especially the works of the Bronte sisters, including Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Other favourites are: Far from the Madding Crowd and Tess of the D'ubervilles by Thomas Hardy. Susan also enjoys the social commentary and status of narrative in the works of Jane Austen, such as Pride and Prejudice and Emma. Moving ahead in historical age, she also immerses herself in the works of Charles Dickens, whose Victorian writing was inspired by Romanticism. Great Expectations is one of Susan's favourite novels by this author.

Susan appreciates female writers, such as Zadie Smith. White Teeth and On Beauty are two of Susan's favourite works from this author. She also enjoy Amy Tan's works, with their beautiful devotion to family, heritage and culture.

Having a strong interest in life and culture, Susan loved reading Memoirs of A Geisha by Anthony Holden. An autobiography she particularly enjoyed was John Bell's The Time of My Life.

Susan also loves the rich tapestry of worlds and stories in fantasy novels, such as the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is another favourite adventure/fantasy series. She found Yann Martell's Life of Pi to be a wondrous, adventurous, heart filling tale of life. Susan also cannot forget the epic power and adventure of Ancient Hellinistic Greek novels, such as The Illiad and The Odyssey by Homer.

In relation to fairy tales, Susan loves the works of Hans Christian Andersen: Thumbelina, The Snow Queen and The Wild Swans are three of her favourite tales by this author. Charles Perrault is also another favourite author of hers. She enjoys his beautiful detail, especially in The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods. She also enjoys the darker, mysterious tales of ETA Hoffman, such as The Sandman. This leads to her indulgence of works by Edgar Allen Poe, as well as in the exotic, mesmerising tales of One Thousand and One Nights.

Susan has a passion for Shakespeare and can read his works fluently. She particularly loves: The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, As you Like It, Othello and his complete Sonnets. A modern playwright that Susan adores is Tenessee Williams, particularly his works on A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Susan's favourite books from childhood are: Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden and Johanna's Spyri's Heidi. She also adored L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series. More contemporary works she enjoyed were: Roald Dahl's works, including: Matilda, The Witches and Danny the Champion of the World. She also adored Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree collection, eg. The Folk of the Faraway Tree and also The Wishing Chair collection. She still loves these books today!

Susan has been known to read some modern romance. She particularly enjoyed Vikram Seth's An Equal Music; Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook and has been reading Julia Quinn's Bridgerton Series.

Overall, Susan enjoys stories that develop strong characters and worlds, enabling the reader to immerse in the story.

Susan L Marshall is a contemporary Australian novelist, fiction writer, poet, dramatist, essayist and theatre practitioner. She is renown for her unique attunement to the energetic motions of her lifeworlds and how they set the spirit alight. Her body of work involves her drawing from such inspiration and blurring the distinctions between classical and contemporary writing and performance art techniques.

In her role as a theatre practitioner, Susan has acted, devised and directed a range of dramatic stage productions in Australia, including her portrayal of the protagonist in Virginia Baxter's What Time is This House? for the Melbourne Fringe Festival and her role in devising, scripting and acting in Orb.IT, directed by Brett Adam for the Melbourne International Arts Festival. Susan also had the privilege of stage directing the Australian premiere production of Timothy Daly's Beach: A Theatrical Fantasia with a young cast. She has been trained by renowned professional performing artists in Australia, such as: Di Gagen, James Wardlaw, Geoff Wallis, Richard Keown, Geoffrey Milne and Julian Meyrick.

In 2013, Susan released her first professional theatrical play: Broken World, published by RMDesigned, which was launched at the AATE/ALEA National Conference in Melbourne and positively reviewed by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. This was followed by her second play, Indigo’s Haven, also published by RMDesigned in 2016.

Susan is an honoured recipient of the prestigious Award for Special Civic Service, presented to her by the Mayor of Richmond, Victoria, for her extensive civic contributions to the city of Richmond and the Richmond City Council. The Award particularly recognises her outstanding efforts in assisting young people through her work on the Richmond Youth Work Project and the Richmond Youth Council.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Susan expanded her writing repertoire, completing a range of poetry and fiction that were published at Vocal Media in the U.S.A. Most notably, her short story: Peonies for Masha: Her Journey Home was shortlisted as a finalist in the Vocal+ Fiction Awards in 2022.

In 2020, Susan founded Story Playscapes, her professional writing and publishing business. It is there that she runs her My Story Meadow project, which involves her providing global literacy development opportunities as she shares her poetic and fictional etudes with a global readership. At Story Playscapes, Susan also collaborates with the world-renown book designer, Ryan Marshall on the professional production of her written publications.

In 2023, Story Playscapes published and released Susan’s professional play publications: Fleur of Yesterday and All the Hope We Carry. As the first two plays released in Susan’s new Theatre Playscapes series, they officially present her monumental achievement: her new Theatre Playscapes theatrical style, developed for young performers, to readers and theatre makers around the world.

In 2024, Story Playscapes will release Susan’s novel: Adira and the Dark Horse. It is the first book for adults in the new Adira Cazon Literary Mystery series. An atmospheric and gripping page turner, it unravels private detective Adira Cazon's journey as she attempts to outwit the dangerous dark horse.

Story Playscapes will also release Susan's exclusive collection of 30 poems for adults: Bare Spirit: The Selected Poems of Susan Marshall, where she further reveals how her attunement to the energetic motions of her lifeworlds, enables her to set the spirit alight. Susan's sensual verse draws upon breathtaking imagery to distil and transcend single moments, which can arise the 'bare spirit' from within.