Kate Lilley was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1960 and moved to Sydney with her family.
[2][3] She published her first poem at the age of 14, and the following year in 1977 she won the Artlook-Shell Award, against a field of 500 entrants.
[5] Lilley is a scholar of queer, feminist textual theory and history, from 17th century women’s writing to contemporary poetry and poetics.
[10] Lilley had a "featured cameo" as Vera Newby in the film The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith.
[11] She has been an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Sydney, where she directed the Creative Writing program from 2013 to 2021.