Who are you, and what are you doing here?

Lia Weston was born in Sydney and then found herself growing up in Adelaide, to her surprise. After studying psychology at the University of Adelaide, she won a place at the Australian Writers and Art Directors Association (AWARD) School, the completion of which successfully halted any desire to enter the copywriting industry.

Several years of hospitality work followed by a job at a university bookshop taught her the valuable skill of keeping a cheery disposition even when contemplating braining customers with a baking tray.

Her next job saw Lia penning press releases for sports medicine texts by day (her favourite title remains the sadly un-illustrated Catastrophic Injuries in High School Sports) and ghost-writing her friends' university essays by night. At this point, she realised she should probably be working on her own material.

Spending an adolescence at an all-girls' Anglican school, coupled with several years as a teenage altar server, naturally sparked a interest in alternative religions as well as the necessity to develop a sense of humour as a coping mechanism for life in general. Lia consequently spent several years exploring New Age philosophies before one nonsensical lecture too many prompted her to flee the scene. Fascinated by the lengths that people will go to in order to fit in, and the extent to which people can justify almost anything with vague proclamations, the result was her first novel, The Fortunes of Ruby White.

To this day, she cannot smell patchouli without shuddering.

Lia currently resides in Adelaide and works as a freelance editor in between running a bicycle shop with her husband, Pete. Lia and Pete own a rescued German Shepherd called Kif, who is a traitor to his breed in that he is beautiful but not smart.