[1] She graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1989 with a BA (Combined Honours) in Criminology and the History and Philosophy of Science.
She has worked for the Australian Red Cross in Southeast Asia,[2] 1993–1998; for Sexual Health & Family Planning Australia in the South Pacific, 2000–2002; for the Victorian Council of Social Service, 2002–2007; and for the Association of Neighbourhood Houses and Learning Centres (Melbourne, Victoria), 2009–2014.
Savage won the Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award in 2004 for Thai Died.
[3] Her first novel, based on this manuscript (Behind the Night Bazaar, Text Publishing, 2006), was shortlisted for the 2007 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction.
[7] She contributed an essay to the collection, If I Tell You...I'll Have To Kill You: Australia's leading crime writers reveal their secrets (Michael Robotham ed., Allen & Unwin, 2013).