AustLit

Emma Tom grew up in Sydney and the northern New South Wales town of Lismore. After finishing high school, she worked as a cadet reporter for a Lismore newspaper, then moved to Sydney to work for the Sydney Morning Herald. After eight years at the Sydney Morning Herald she became a regular columnist for the Australian. Tom's columns focus on women's issues, particularly sexual issues, with language that tests the limits of a broadsheet's tolerance. This has led to criticism from other journalists, but, nevertheless, her journalism has attracted several awards. She has also appeared on several television shows.

Tom's first novel Deadset (1997) won the Best First Book Award section of the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Asia and the South Pacific. Essentially a crime story, it is narrated by a dead schoolgirl who explores her past and the reasons for her death while contemplating her attitudes to sex and death. Many of Tom's columns for the Sydney Morning Herald were collected in Babewatch (1998), restoring much material that was considered inappropriate for the newspaper.

In 2010 Emma Tom changed her name to Emma Jane. Writing in 'The Name Game' (The Australian 2 October 2010) she says: 'I have changed mine recently. My surname switch from Tom to Jane was a decision made first and foremost for personal reasons. I have changed mine recently. My surname switch from Tom to Jane was a decision made first and foremost for personal reasons'.