Short Bio
Sita Rose Bennett is a Nordic-Australian author and actress who was raised on the coast of Margaret River, W.A, and started acting in theatre, appearing in her first film at a young age. Since studying acting and writing, then disappearing into a Zen/Buddhist monastery for a few years, she has published a series of fantasy books, worked in film and television, and co-created several award-winning art-house films with her brother, director/cinematographer Mana Bennett, which have screened internationally.
She has been accepted into several international writing residencies, including the Westfjords Artist Residency and Gröndal‘s House Iceland, where she wrote ‘A Silent Witness’ a short story and poem published in issue seven of Ós Pressan, the Icelandic literary Journal.
A pervading interest in philosophy, psychology, & the relationship between humans, nature & God, has permeated my life from a young age. And a ‘mysterious’ illness, which manifested in my teenage years has been one of life’s bittersweet blessing-in-disguise.
For extended periods, it forced me to retreat from “the ten thousand things”(Lao Tzu), and absorb the wisdom hidden in literature, cinema, & numerous philosophies, & instilling a deep reverence for life in the sentience of our impermanence.
But not all must face illness or tragedy to seek deeper connection & meaning.
My books and films are for those who sense something richer beneath the surface, with common themes of self-discovery, belonging, consciousness, and nature.
My poetry explores love, grief, illness, & finding peace through pain.
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” — Mathew 16:26
A Personal Note
Grief is not a prison, nor a chain,
it is a passage, a rite, a necessary flame,
and when it burns through, the heart remains-
not as ashes, but richer to have lived in its name.