Lisa Morrow

Lisa Morrow was born in Sydney, Australia and grew up in a leafy middle class North Shore suburb. After high school she went to Sydney University but failed to find her niche. She worked as a public servant, cleaner, sales assistant, waitress, bar maid and car counter, then went overseas. Once there she hitchhiked through the UK, travelled in Europe and arrived in Turkey just as the Gulf War was starting. Her three month stay in the small central Anatolian village of Göreme changed her life. On her return to Australia she earned a BA Honours Degree in Sociology from Macquarie University. An academic career beckoned but the call to travel was louder. After several false starts she moved to Istanbul in 2010.

Lisa's publications include a memoir "Istanbul Dreams: Waiting for the Tulips to Bloom" and three essay collections, "Inside Out In Istanbul: Making Sense of the City", "Exploring Turkish Landscapes: Crossing Inner Boundaries" and "Longing for Istanbul: The Words I Haven't Said Yet". She has researched, written and produced an audio walking tour called "Stepping back through Chalcedon: Kadikoy Walk". Lisa runs www.insideoutinistanbul.com and her byline has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, BBC Travel, World Nomads, CNN Travel and elsewhere. A full list of her published articles, with links, can be found on the Writing pages of her blog.