Q&A with festival author Judi Morison

The South Coast Readers & Writers Festival returns to Thirroul over three jam-packed days from 24 to 26 July. On the Saturday, author Judi Morison will be appearing in a session titled 'Intergenerational Justice'.

Judi is a storyteller whose writing engages with truth-telling through fiction. Her debut novel, Secrets, which won the 2022 Boundless Indigenous Writer’s Mentorship, was published by Bundyi in 2025 and her short fiction and poetry have been published in various literary anthologies. Judi’s historical novel manuscript, Crossing the Creek, was shortlisted for The Australian Fiction Prize 2025 and will be published by Bundyi in January 2027. After 23 years on Wadi Wadi Country, where the South Coast Writers Centre was important in her writing journey, Judi now lives gratefully on Gumbaynggirr Country.

We asked Judi to tell us more about her reading and writing journey.

What inspired you to write Secrets?

I needed an idea for a Novel Writing class in 2019 as part of the MA in Creative Writing at UTS, and found a 500-word piece I'd written in a 2015 writing group exercise, about the funeral of a matriarch with a dysfunctional family. I decided to use that idea but also wanted to explore trauma and addiction, and to celebrate strong Blak women. Other issues emerged as the characters took shape.

What are you reading, or working on, right now?

I'm currently reading Inga Simpson's fabulous collection of short stories, Once We Were Wildlife, and working on a historical fiction manuscript and also a non-fiction book, which an Elder has asked me to write.

What is your writing routine?

I don't have a writing routine, to be honest. I work best when I'm writing to a deadline and have been using the three writing groups I've joined in Coffs Harbour to keep me accountable with progress on the historical fiction.

What is one book that changed your life?

Eric Newby's 1958 memoir, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, changed my life. I read it in the 1970s and was inspired to join a three-month overland bus trip from Kathmandu to London, in 1978. With 24 fellow travellers, I travelled from Nepal through India, Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, before we hit Europe, including Bulgaria, Romania, and the Soviet Union. The influence of those cross-cultural experiences has been profound.

Is there a writing project on your bucket list – something you would like to write one day?

I would love to write a collection of poetry or songs in my Gamilaraay language, as part of our ongoing language revival work.

Is there another session at the SCRWF (other than your own, of course!) you’re most excited to catch?

I'm excited about many sessions at SCRWF, but I'm constantly striving to improve my writing, so I will have to choose Writing as Craft, with two beautiful writers, Michelle de Kretser and Catherine McKinnon, in conversation.

Intergenerational Justice

25 July, 11:30am–12:25pm

Judi Morison’s Secrets is a gripping saga following the traumas, loves and strengths of two families, one Aboriginal, across generations, while Sara Haddad’s The Sunbird follows Nabila, a Palestinian woman expelled from her home as a child, and the effects that one devastating event had over the course of her life. Zohra Aly chairs a nuanced conversation between these authors about intergenerational trauma and justice.

Book tickets here and find the full program on the SCWC website.