Lorraine McDonald is an Honorary Fellow, School of Education, Australian Catholic University, Sydney. Lorraine, a former classroom teacher, has taught at tertiary level in Australia, the USA and UK over several decades. Her research examined the role of language in the teaching of literature and changing ways of thinking about language, literature and literacy. She has worked with undergraduate and post-graduate teachers in the fields of Literacy Education, Literature for Children and Young Adults, Linguistics and ESL and continues to work in these fields for several Australian Universities.

Lorraine contributed to the multi-modal and literary teaching/learning experiences within the Global Words online resource as a content editor, was a writer for the Indigenous curriculum resource Yarning Strong and is the second presenter in PETAA's Project 40 set of online videos and papers. Lorraine regularly presents at national and international conferences and delivers a range of professional development workshops around the world.