bio

Samara Lo is an author from Sydney, Australia.

She was shortlisted for the Penguin Literary Prize 2025 and has previously been awarded the Westwords Emerging Writer's Residency at Varuna House and the Copyright Agency-WestWords Fellowship.

Her short fiction includes Witch Ash (Meniscus Literary Journal 2024), You (BAD Western Sydney: The Second Case 2024), The Last Mile (Living Stories Writing Prize 2024), After Me, The Flood (Gothic Fantasy Anthology: Shadows On The Water - Flame Tree Press - Jan 2024), A Rosella's Home (Gothic Fantasy Anthology: Immigrant Sci-Fi Anthology - May 2023), Songs of Yesterday's Tomorrows (The Heart Will Find A Way Anthology & The Saltbush Review: Issue 3 - May 2023), Last Teen Standing (Daily Science Fiction - Feb 2022), Morally Grey and Sunny (BAD Western Sydney 2022), and her flash fiction One Day was awarded the highly-commended prize and published in the Living Stories Anthology 2021.

Her art piece Après moi, le déluge was displayed at the Firstdraft Gallery as part of the Firstdraft x WestWords exhibition (November 2024).

Samara has also been a judge for the Aurealis Awards and Living Stories Writing Prize. She has appeared in panels and workshops for writers such as the Art Gallery of NSW's Emerging Voices program.  

When not writing, Samara can often be found relaxing with family—going for walks, exploring new places, or watching re-runs of Studio Ghibli films.

She is represented by Peter Knapp at Park, Fine & Brower Literary Management.