Nicole W. Lee Writer in Residence 2021

04 Jun Nicole W. Lee Writer in Residence 2021

Nicole W. Lee is a writer of fiction, theatre, poetry and criticism. Born and raised on the traditional lands of the Bidgigal people of the Dharug nation (north-western Sydney), she has since lived in Melbourne and New York.

Nicole has always been interested in working with young people and while in New York ran a writing masterclass for homeless youth as part of Covenant House New York’s Crossing Bridges Broadway Artists Program, taking over from previous guest artist, Tony Award winning Chinese American playwright David Henry Hwang. The program culminated in a 24 hour playwriting festival which saw the participants perform in a Broadway venue. She also holds a distinction Associate Diploma of Speech and Drama in Teaching from Trinity College London (ATCL), which she completed at age 17.

Her fiction has received a fellowship from the VONA/Voices (Voices of Our Nation Arts) organisation (founded by Junot Diaz) and placed in the top 10% of the Wheeler Centre’s Next Chapter program. As a writer for performance her short opera LITTLE DEATHS with composer Paul Castles has been developed by Victorian Opera/Chamber Made Opera, while a hybrid theatre and music piece THE RED DUST written in collaboration with artistic director Nate Gilkes will be produced by Marian St Theatre for Young People in 2021. Recently a song from this work-in-progress was featured on the morning show Sunrise on Channel 7.

As a freelance writer she has interviewed chef Eddie Huang on the ABC TV show based on his life, FRESH OFF THE BOAT, and reported from a refugee camp in Tanzania in 2015 during the civil unrest in Burundi. During her time in New York she wrote literary criticism for The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Guardian US, UK and Australia.

Nicole holds a Bachelor of Dramatic Arts (Acting) from the Victorian College of the Arts and a Bachelor of Science (Medicine) from the University of New South Wales. As an actor she performed for the Melbourne Theatre Company, ABC Radio, Playwriting Australia, Next Wave Festival and numerous commercials.