Suburban Dreaming
Suburban Dreaming was a class I took at university when I was (momentarily) studying to be a geography teacher. It was about all about the domestica of Australian suburbs: their flair, their impact, their ecology. My memory of it may be skewed, but I use the title fondly now to shape my thoughts on this small domestic life of mine.
Suburban Dreaming features personal essays about walking, reading, place and life on the urban-suburban edge. It aims to be gentle, sensory and reflective, with the goal of encouraging readers to connect with the small, everyday details of their own lives that tether us to home, memory and the local environment. The writing here intends to both bring together and note the intersections between the domestic and the natural, weaving together personal experience with deep attention to landscape, suburban rhythms and ecological awareness. In doing so, I wish to offer a grounded, lyrical view of contemporary Australian life, one that honours both place and the complexities of inner life.
If you think about nature, climate change, motherhood, life balance, reading, writing and creativity, I think you’ll connect with Suburban Dreaming. Check out the archive to get a feel for things.
Suburban Dreaming is published roughly every 2 weeks.
About me
Lucinda Bain is a contemporary Australian writer based in Melbourne, whose work explores motherhood, place, memory, suburban life and the natural world. Lucinda is mother to three daughters – a role that deeply informs much of her writing. She is currently studying librarianship at the master’s level, which complements her identity as a reader, writer, researcher and observer of how stories locate themselves in both home and landscape.
Her writing has appeared in several Australian publications, including Kill Your Darlings, The Victorian Writer, and Walkers Journal. In 2022, she won first prize in the Bass Coast Prize for Non-Fiction for her essay The Prom – a piece reflecting on nature, place, family history and the fragility of our connection to the environment. Previously, in 2020, she had won third-equal in the same prize for memoir essay Paper Thin – an exploration of death and birth, grief and motherhood. In 2023 she presented at the Phillip Island Festival of Stories, contributing perspectives on non-fiction and nature writing. In 2024 she won the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing (Memoir, local section) for her essay, The Butterfly Reserve.
She is currently working on a collection of essays exploring concepts of motherhood, community, landscape and place through the lens of walking and hiking.
