Asphyxia

Asphyxia is a Deaf Australian artist, writer, and former puppeteer and circus performer. She is the author of Future Girl (titled The Words in My Hands in North America), which won the Readings Young Adult Book Prize in 2021 and was shortlisted for several others.

Early life and education Asphyxia was born in Melbourne, the second eldest of eight children, being nicknamed Asphyxia by one of her brothers when she was a teenager. She attended a hearing school and did not learn Auslan until she was 18, as her parents were not satisfied with the standard of the education for the deaf.

Career Circus and puppetry After leaving school, Asphyxia turned to circus, training with Circus Oz, specialising in trapeze and hula hoops. She incorporated her deafness into her work; one of the ways she did this was by signing karaoke, which was a success with her audiences. She then learned how to make her own puppets and sets. After some experimentation, she ended up with a gothic family of puppets which she named the Grimstones. She then left the circus to travel around Australia performing with her puppets. won the 2021 Readings Prize for Young Adult Fiction. The book was selected by The Guardian as one of the top 20 Australian books of 2020, by Kirkus Reviews as one of the best young adult fiction titles of 2021, and by the Children's Book Council of Australia as a notable book of 2021. Future Girl was shortlisted for several awards, including the Indie Book Awards (2021), the Australian Book Industry Awards (2021), and the Aurealis Awards (2020). Orange Entertainment optioned the book for a TV adaptation.

Personal life For 20 years, Asphyxia lived in a small cottage in inner-city Melbourne, which she built herself when she was 22. she lives on a small farm in northern New South Wales.

Her website contains resources she has created, such as a free Auslan course and a music course for Deaf people.