AustLit

Born in Melbourne, Shearer has spent most of her life in Queensland. For many years she worked as a secretary to British and Japanese diplomats. Although she has written some poetry and short fiction (for children and adults), she is best known as a playwright. Shearer began writing in 1971. In the 1970s she was encouraged by winning a regional play competition. Shearer's 1989 play Shimada had a season on Broadway in 1992 and this episode in her career is well-documented in her brief autobiography, Nowhere But Broadway.

A number of Shearer's other works have won Australian and international drama awards. Her plays have been published by both PlayLab and Currency Press. Helen Gilbert comments: 'Her work exhibits passionate concern with social issues and tackles such topics as industrial work practices, abortion, conservation, race relations, and foreign economic influence in Australia. These broader issues are most often played out in Queensland settings through representations of ordinary people and families.'

Shearer has been the recipient of a Writer's Project Grant from the Literature Board of the Australia Council and she has been Writer-in-Residence with the Queensland Theatre Company.

(Source: Helen Gilbert, 'Jill Shearer' in Companion to Theatre in Australia, ed. Philip Parsons (1995): 526-527)