DR SIAN PRIOR

MAC.ROB Student, 1979-1982
PORTRAIT GALLERY INDUCTEE, 2008
Writer, Broadcaster, Singer, MC & Teacher

Dr Sian Prior is a writer, broadcaster, university lecturer, activist and musician. She has presented arts programs on ABC Melbourne, Radio National and ABC Classic.

As a freelance journalist, Sian contributed regular personal columns to The Age and Sydney Morning Herald for six years, and her feature articles and essays have been published in newspapers and magazines including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Courier-Mail, The Australian Way, Rolling Stone, Eureka Street, The Bulletin, The Saturday Paper, Meanjin and Habitat. Her short fiction has been published by Cardigan Press and in the literary journal Visible Ink. She teaches in the RMIT Professional Writing and Editing course and runs short online courses in creative non-fiction and writing as therapy. Sian is the author of two books: ‘Shy: A Memoir’ (2014) and ‘Childless: A story of Freedom and Longing’ (2022), both published by Text Publishing. ‘Childless’ was short-listed for The Age Book of the Year.

Sian has performed regularly in recital as a lyric soprano and clarinettist. She was the founding musical director of the Victorian Trade Union Choir, and she still sings with the Westgarth Ensemble which she co-founded with fellow graduates of the VCA Opera Studio. As a public speaker and forum moderator, Sian has worked with a range of arts and community organisations, including the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), the Melbourne International Film Festival, the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the Victorian Multicultural Commission and the Melbourne Writer’s Festival. She has been a board member of organisations including the ACF, Chamber Made Opera, the City of Melbourne’s Cultural Affairs Advisory Board, the Arts Industry Council, and the Arts Centre’s Artists Advocacy Group. She has also been Chair of the Green Room Awards Opera Panel and a judge for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.

Sian has held a long-term interest in environmental advocacy (she was a national climate campaigner for the ACF for several years in her early twenties). She currently spends a lot of time noodling along the Australian coasts in her small campervan, worrying about rising sea levels and dreaming up new ways to contribute to the cultural conversation.