Robyn Bishop is a Melbourne-based author and playwright. Her love for theatre led her to study Drama at Rusden State College. On completion of her teaching degree, she was employed as a member of the Bouverie St theatre-in-education team before working as a drama teacher at Strathmore Secondary College for more than two decades. During this time, she devised countless performances with students and also wrote three of her own plays, inspired by women’s stories, that were performed at The Carlton Courthouse under the umbrella of La Mama. Only the End was published by Currency Press in 2005 and The Show Must Go On was published by the Australian Script Centre in 2020. Her short story, ‘The Lonely Road’, appeared in the Spinifex Press anthology of feminist fiction and poetry, It’s All Connected, in 2022. Her novel The Girl in the Bath, inspired by a painting Robyn saw while attending the Melbourne Writers Festival, was published in 2014. This, her second novel, is based on the life of her grandmother.
'This is vivid and evocative historical fiction, immersive and intensely felt, that’s alive to how societal forces constrain women, and the strength it takes resist them.' —The Age/SMH 'Robyn Bishop spins a gripping story, infusing it with true grit and realism. The Rust Red Land is an engaging and intriguing story filled with complex characters and rural Australian themes that remain relevant today. A highly recommended book for readers who enjoyed Maggie by Catherine Johns.' —Books+Publishing 'Powerfully evoking time and place, a compelling portrait of an extraordinary woman, in an ordinary man’s world.' —Noni Hazlehurst, AM, actor, writer, director