After an early career as an actor, Sylvia Martin obtained a PhD in Women’s Studies/Historical and Cultural Studies in 1996 and turned to writing biography where her acting training and skills turned out to be useful.

She has published four biographies of Australian women who have been neglected in Australian literary and cultural history. Her biography of the first female Mitchell Librarian, Ida Leeson: a Life. Not a Blue-Stocking Lady (Allen & Unwin 2006) was awarded the Magarery Medal for Biography and was short-listed for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award and the Kibble Award. Ink in her Veins: The Troubled Life of Aileen Palmer (UWA Publishing) came out in 2016 and was followed by her book of memoir essays, Sky Swimming: Reflections on Auto/biography, People and Place (UWA Publishing 2020). A second edition of her first book, Passionate Friends: Mary Fullerton, Mabel Singleton and Miles Franklin (Interventions/Queer Oz Folk) was published in 2021.

Sylvia has also published widely in academic and literary journals and writes book reviews. She chaired the judging panel of the National Biography Award in 2025. In 2026 her biography Double Act: Eirene Mort and Nora Kate Weston will be published by NLA Publishing, aided by funding from the Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship.