About

Storytelling and social change are Jill’s passions. 

Whether it’s through the pages of her best-selling books, her campaigning journalism or engaging social media content, she speaks from the heart and knows how to make an impact.

After a decade on staff with The Age, Jill branched out on her own and is now a sought-after speechwriter and communications specialist, delivering thought-leadership strategies and media services for prominent change-makers.

She’s also a seasoned public speaker, delivering keynote speeches and webinars, and MC-ing major events in the corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors.

Jill’s first book, High Sobriety, was recently re-released as a ten-year anniversary edition, Higher Sobriety. It investigates Australia and Scotland’s binge drinking culture and was short-listed in the Kibble Literary Awards and long-listed in the Walkley Book of the Year Awards.

Her next two books, Happy Never After and When You’re Not OK are informed by her lifelong journey with anxiety. Jill is fascinated by the human condition and shares her flaws and vulnerabilities in the hope that others will see themselves reflected in her experience and feel less alone.

She’s sober, single, child-free by choice, and a fierce advocate for solo living and defying social conventions. Her popular event, Solo Sundays, connects and celebrates those who are doing life solo.

Jill writes a weekly newsletter for her Patreon subscribers, with deep dives on a range of topics including mental health, sobriety, politics, gender equality, pop culture and much more.

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As a freelance writer, Jill’s work appears in The Guardian, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Saturday Paper, ABC, SBS and The New Daily.

A respected social commentator, she appears regularly on ABC Melbourne where she has co-hosted The Conversation Hour. Her other radio appearances include Radio National, 3AW, 2GB, JOY 94.9 and Triple RRR. Her television appearances include The Project, Sunrise, and ABC News Breakfast.

Jill began her career in Edinburgh Scotland, where she was born and grew up. She is an unapologetic cat lady and somewhat obsessed with Highland cows.

Awards

High Sobriety was short-listed for the Dobbie Award at the 21st Kibble and Dobbie Literary Awards in 2014.

Jill was named Straight Ally of the Year in 2014 at the GLOBE Community Awards for her groundbreaking reporting on LGBTIQ issues.

High Sobriety was a finalist in the 2013 Walkey Book of the Year Award

Jill won the Victorian Sport Awards Media Award in 2012 for her reporting on homophobia in the AFL and other sports.

Jill won the Excellence in Media Reporting Award at the National Drug and Alcohol Awards in 2008 and 2011 for her extensive reporting on Australia's binge drinking crisis.

Media

Embracing Solo Christmas

The Project, December 2023
Author Jill Stark is embracing a new tradition of spending Christmas alone and tells us why she doesn’t want anyone to feel sorry for her.

High Sobriety ten years on

ABC News Breakfast, January 2023
Jill Stark talks about the release of Higher Sobriety – the ten-year anniversary edition of her acclaimed debut memoir – and what's changed in a decade, for her and Australia's drinking culture

Has sobriety become sexy?

ABC Melbourne Conversation Hour, January 2023
Jill Stark joins Richelle Hunt and Jonathon Kendall to talk about Higher Sobriety and the changed drinking landscape

Would You Like Another Drink?

The Unlearning Project, November 2021
Jill Stark talks to the Unlearning Project about the way sobriety has changed and strengthened her, what we learn from the toughest moments and how we can unlearn the social conditioning that tells us we need to drink to belong.

The rise and rise of sobriety

ABC Melbourne, May 2021
Jill Stark talks to the ABC about the stratospheric rise of the non-alcoholic drinks sector and the growing sober curious movement.

Sober Curious

Sydney Opera House, All About Women Festival, March 2020
Jill Stark in conversation with Clementine Ford, Yumi Stynes and Shanna Whan about their relationship with alcohol and the growing sober curious movement.

The Happiness Fairytale

International Convention Centre, Sydney, September 2019
Jill Stark in Conversation with Lynne Malcolm at Happiness & Its Causes Conference

Anxiety, depression and the 'fairytale filter'

ABC Radio National, Big Ideas, 10 September 2018
Jill Stark was wracked by paralysing anxiety and serious depression. She hit rock bottom, her mental health crisis flaring up in the aftermath of a personal triumph: the success of her debut book. She talks to Paul Barclay about the myth of happiness, what her personal struggles have taught her, and the hard - but rewarding - road she’s travelled, rebuilding her life, and her health.

Why the happiness fairytale is driving us mad

The Daily Edition, Channel Seven, 7 August 2018
Author Jill Stark explains why the 'happiness fairytale' is driving us mad, and how our obsession with happiness is making us more miserable than ever.

Anxiety Explained: With Jill Stark

Better Reading Podcast, 6 August 2018
This week Cheryl is joined by Jill Stark to discuss her latest novel Happy Never After – a raw, uplifting exploration of our age of anxiety. Together they talk about Jill’s own experiences with anxiety, what triggered her breakdown, and how she has learnt to manage her illness by shifting her perspective of what it means to be truly ‘happy’.

Getting Happy

ABC Melbourne, 01 August 2018
Jill Stark joins Ali Moore and co-host Deborah Conway with filmmaker Zanny Begg for the Conversation Hour

Happy Never After

Triple R, 1 August 2018
Happiness is the moving target that most of us spend our lives trying to hit. Author and journalist Jill Stark’s recent book, Happy Never After: Why the happiness fairy-tale is driving us mad, explores how our efforts to strike the illusive state of elation can end up doing more harm than good.

When having it all just isn't enough

ABC Radio National, Life Matters, 30 July 2018
Eighteen months after Jill Stark’s book on giving up booze had become a best-seller, she thought she had it all. From the outside, her life looked like it was all fancy book parties, career successes, hot dates and the perfect work/life balance.
Actually, her days were filled with panic attacks, heavy drinking, and the struggle to get out of bed. How could the gap between what success was meant to look like and what it did look like be so huge?

Our amazing brains

ABC Radio Melbourne, 27 May 2015
Jill co-hosts the Conversation Hour with Jon Faine on ABC Melbourne, with guest Dr Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself and the Brain's Way of Healing

A year off the grog

ABC Radio National, Big Ideas, 23 December 2013
Jill Stark is an award winning health journalist. She was a big drinker over 20 years, then she gave up the booze for a year. It wasn’t easy but it was a personal revelation. She talks with Paul Barclay about what sobriety taught her

Is there a rising ruling class in Australia? And how do we live a good life?

ABC Radio Melbourne, 8 May 2013
Author and senior journalist Jill Stark is Jon Faine's co-host, with guests, Nick Cater, senior editor at The Australian and social researcher, writer and commentator Hugh MacKay.

Journalist Jill Stark addresses problem drinking in the most personal way

ABC Local, Conversations with Richard Fidler, 21 February 2013
Jill Stark has won awards for her work on stories about health, public policy and alcohol and drug issues.

One morning, Jill woke up with a terrible hangover which led her to wonder: was she one of those binge drinkers she had written so much about?

Getting off the grog

ABC Melbourne, 15 February 2013
Tim Rogers is Jon Faine's co-host on The Conversation Hour, chatting to Jill Stark, author of High Sobriety: My Year Without Booze, and Professor Rob Moodie from the University of Melbourne's School of Public Health.

Hire Jill

If you’d like to hire Jill to run a workshop, speak at your event or provide media services for your organisation, please get in touch for a quote.

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