Jessie Tu

Jessie Tu is a Sydney-based journalist, book critic, and award-winning author. Born in Taiwan and emigrating to Australia in 1992, she studied music at the University of NSW and later pursued law before shifting to journalism. She currently serves as a journalist for Women’s Agenda and a book critic for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. Her debut novel, A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing (2020), won the 2021 Australian Book Industry Award for Literary Fiction, exploring themes of female agency and sexuality. Her second novel, The Honeyeater (2024), examines power dynamics in academia and mother-daughter relationships. Tu’s work spans poetry (You Should Have Told Me We Have Nothing Left, 2018), essays, and journalism, with contributions to The Guardian, LA Review of Books, and other outlets. She has also taught music and volunteered in refugee camps and the Solomon Islands, blending diverse experiences into her writing.