Lau Siew Mei: A Brief Biography

Tamara S. Wagner, Fellow, National University of Singapore

Lau Siew Mei was born in Singapore in 1968 and migrated to Australia in 1994. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Philosophy from the National University of Singapore and also holds a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from Murdoch University, Western Australia. Her short stories have been broadcast internationally on the BBC World Service and published in literary journals in Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Her first novel, Playing Madame Mao, was published in 2000 and shortlisted for the inaugural Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards for Best Emerging Queensland Author. Lau Siew Mei lives in Brisbane and has two children.


Postcolonial Web Singapore OV Singaporean Literature