Shirley Marr is a first generation Chinese-Australian located in Perth and an author of Young Adult and children’s fiction. She is represented by Gemma Cooper from The Bent Agency. Little Jiang , a spirited Middle Grade novel featuring a pint-sized Chinese vampire is slated for release on 1 October 2020 through Fremantle Press.
Her previous two contemporary young adult titles are Fury (a dark and funny murder story narrated by a petulant sixteen-year-old mean girl) and Preloved (a lower-teen paranormal love story for girls who don’t like paranormal love stories), both published by Black Dog Books, an imprint of Walker Books Australia.
It was while she was working on a very dry Accounting PhD that she realised she’d rather be writing down her dark, twisted daydreams instead. She is still a Bespectacled Accountant by day and a Masked Writer at night.
Shirley describes herself as having a Western Mind, an Eastern Heart and a thoroughly Bogan personality; endlessly entertaining cultural clashes ensuing! She takes milk and sugar with her tea much to the dismay of her oolong drinking friends and eats chicken feet much to the disgust of her Aussie friends. She loiters around her inner-city neighbourhood in a black hoodie, unafraid.
Her passion is to distil her cultural heritage in dark and unusual ways through the lens of resilient young women and her soft spot is interpreting the concept of a “Suburban Princess”.
She is the only person she knows who has ever been kicked out of a bookstore for disruptive behaviour.
Hi-Resolution Editorial Images for General Release (Jessica Wyld)
