Marieke Hardy began life as a child actor and has since forged a successful career as a screenwriter, playwright, producer, artist, theatre maker and media presenter.

Marieke was the Artistic Director of the Melbourne Writers Festival for both the 2018 and 2019 programs.

She is currently Writer, Co-Creator and Executive Producer on a series in preproduction with Blackfella Films Slander. She is also head writer and showrunner on Jungle's adaptation of Robbie Arnott's novel, Flames and wrote episodes of Netflix’s hugely popular Heartbreak High reboot Series 1 and 2. She also wrote episode 2 of Sunny Nights which was produced by Jungle, Echo Lake & Stan as well as an episode of Lingo Pictures anthology series Erotic Stories for SBS.

Marieke has written for Matchbox’s Seven Types of Ambiguity and Nowhere Boys Series 3 and 4. Her other credits include writing on Barons, The Family Law, Mr & Mrs Murder, Spirited, Packed to the Rafters, Always Greener, Neighbours, and Something in the Air.  She has also been a script consultant/editor on such series as Rosehaven, Please Like Me, Tomorrow Tonight, and the development of comedian Anne Edmonds' Helen Bidou series.

Her original play Losing Face starring Michala Banas and directed by Leticia Cáceres opened at the MTC to packed houses in 2026. Her hugely successful adaptation of Dario Fo's play No Pay? No Way! premiered with Sydney Theatre Company at the Sydney Opera House in February 2020 to rave reviews and went on to be nominated for a NSW Premier’s Award. The play has also had a season at the Exchange Theatre in Manchester, UK in 2023 and a critically acclaimed return season at the STC in 2024.

Marieke is the co-creator, co-writer and co-producer on the critically acclaimed ABC comedy series, Laid series 1 and 2, for which she won the 2011 AWGIE for Best Comedy – Situation or Narrative. A US format of the show was released in December 2024.

She has penned regular columns for The Age, The Drum, and Frankie magazine, as well as features in The Saturday Paper and Spectrum.

In addition to writing, Marieke hosted the breakfast radio show on Triple J FM from 2007 – 2009 and was a regular presenter on ABC’s The Book Club for eleven years. She also co-curated and co-produced the spoken word salon Women of Letters. The first of seven Women of Letters collection was released in October 2011 with Penguin Books. Her first collection of essays, You’ll Be Sorry When I’m Dead, was released in 2011 with Allen and Unwin.

In 2019 Marieke launched a brand-new monthly spoken word event in Melbourne with poet Emilie Zoey Baker titled 'Better Off Said: Eulogies for the Living and the Dead'. She is a recipient of the 2015 Sidney Myer Fellowship.