Associate Professor Lisa Bennett

Associate Professor in Creative Writing and English

College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

+61 8 8201 3258

lisa.bennett@flinders.edu.au

Humanities

GPO Box 2100, ADELAIDE, SA, 5001

Lisa Bennett teaches undergraduate and Honours classes in Creative Writing and English, and she's a specialist in Old-Norse Icelandic literature, the Viking Age, genre fiction, and creative practice. She is the author of Story Thinking: Real-World Applications of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writing (with Helen Marshall and Kim Wilkins, Bloomsbury, 2025) and Writing Bestsellers: Love, Money and Creative Practice (with Kim Wilkins; Cambridge University Press, 2021). Lisa regularly writes reviews for the ABR and is a frequent guest on ABC Radio's 'Book of the Week' segment. Under her pen name, Lisa L. Hannett, she is an internationally recognised, multiple award-winning writer of five short story collections, a novel, and over 80 speculative fiction short stories (fantasy, science fiction, horror, and historical fiction). Lisa’s recent book, Viking Women: Life and Lore (Thames & Hudson, 2023) combines her research expertise and her skills as a storyteller, presenting speculative biographies of Viking women from all ages and social strata (slaves, housewives, mothers, far-travellers, young girls, old widows, and anchoresses) alongside engaging historical context. The follow-up volume, Viking Women: Myth and Magic is due out in 2025.

Qualifications

2011: PhD in Old Norse literature: The Remembered Present: Sites of Cultural Memory in the Íslendingasögur. Flinders University

2004: BA (Honours): English Literature. Flinders University

2001: Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours): Double major in Painting/Photography and English Literature. University of Ottawa, Canada

Honours, awards and grants

Writing Awards

Finalist, Best Collection, World Fantasy Awards, 2024
Winner, Best Novella, Australian Shadows Awards, 2021
Finalist, Best Novella, Aurealis Awards, 2021
Finalist, Best Collection, Aurealis Awards, 2021
Finalist, Best Short Story, Australian Shadows Awards, 2018
Finalist, Best Horror Short Story, Aurealis Awards, 2018
Finalist, Best YA Short Story, Aurealis Awards, 2017
Winner, Best Novel, Australian National Science Fiction ('Ditmar') Awards, 2016
Finalist (twice): Best Horror Short Story, Aurealis Awards 2015
Finalist: Best Fantasy Short Story, Aurealis Awards 2015
Winner (with Angela Slatter), Best Collection, Aurealis Awards 2014
Finalist, Norma K. Hemming Award 2014
Finalist, Best Novella, Ditmar Awards 2014
Finalist, Best Collection, Aurealis Awards 2012
Finalist, Best Collected Work, Ditmar Awards 2012
Finalist, Best Collection, World Fantasy Awards 2012
Winner, Best Collection, Aurealis Awards 2011
Winner, Best Horror Short Story, Aurealis Awards 2011
Finalist, Norma K. Hemming Award 2012
Finalist, Best Collection, Australian Shadows Award 2011
Finalist, Best Novella, Australian Shadows Award 2011
Winner (with Angela Slatter), Best Fantasy Short Story, Aurealis Awards 2010

Competitive Grants and Awards

CHASS Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2022
ORnet / Commonwealth Department of Defence grant for The Ursula Project: Speculative Fiction techniques for technology foresight (with Kim Wilkins and Helen Marshall, UQ), 2021
Flinders Re-entry Fellowship, 2020
Arts SA Independent Makers and Presenters Professional Development Grant, 2020
Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching (with Dr Erin Sebo), 2017
EHL Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching (with Dr Erin Sebo), 2017
Vice-Chancellor's Award for Early Career Researchers, 2015
Establishment Grant, Flinders University, 2015
Creative Research Fund Grant, Flinders University, 2015
Medium Research Project Grant, Flinders University, 2014
Arts SA Independent Makers and Presenters Professional Development Grant, 2012
Arts SA Independent Makers and Presenters Project Grant, 2011
Arts SA Independent Makers and Presenters Professional Development Grant, 2008