Elizabeth Lancaster

Elizabeth is an award-winning Australian author. She began her working life as an occupational therapist but changed direction after attending a writing course in New York City, while living there with her husband and two children. After a shock diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, writing would provide her with a much-needed lifeline.

Elizabeth’s first book, Marzipan and Magnolias, depicting her complex relationship with her idiosyncratic mother, as well as the onset of MS, won the inaugural Finch Memoir Prize. Her second book, Bounty: A Memoir of Friendship, MS and the Dog That Changed Everything, takes her story in an unexpected direction. When a headstrong rescue dog storms into her life, he pulls her back into the world. Bounty leads her to a hidden dog-park community where her own assumptions about disability and belonging are challenged. This is a story of friendship, loss and the surprising ways life can open up.

Elizabeth lives in Sydney with her husband.