Marion Mildred Halligan AM (born 1940) is an Australian

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

. She was born and educated in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, and worked as a school teacher and journalist before publishing her first short stories. Halligan has served as chairperson of the Literature Board of the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

and the Australian National Word Festival. She currently lives in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. For a number of years she was a member of a group of women writers based in Canberra known as the "Canberra Seven" or "Seven Writers". The group began with three members in 1980, growing to seven by 1984. In addition to Marion Halligan, they were

Dorothy Johnston Dorothy Johnston (born 1948) is an Australian author of both crime and literary fiction. She has published novels, short stories and essays. Born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, Johnston trained as a teacher at the University of Melbourne and ...

, Margaret Barbalet, Sara Dowse,

Suzanne Edgar Suzanne Edgar (born 13 October 1939) is an Australian poet, short story writer and historian. Life Suzanne Edgar was born Glenelg, South Australia on 13 October 1939. She was educated at Adelaide Teachers' College and the University of Adel ...

Marian Eldridge Marian Favel Clair Eldridge (1 February 1936 – 14 February 1997) was an Australian short story writer and book reviewer. Biography Marian Favel Clair Stockfeld was born in Melbourne, Victoria on 1 February 1936. She grew up on her parents' ...

and Dorothy Horsfield. The group essentially disbanded after Marian Eldridge's death in 1997. However, before that they met regularly to critique each other's work, and published a book of short stories called ''Canberra Tales'' in 1988.Australian Women Corporate Entry ''Seven Writers (1980-1998)''
Retrieved on 2007-09-05 She was appointed

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AM), General Division, in 2006 for services to literature and for her work in promoting Australian literature.

Awards

* 1990 —

Pascall Prize The Pascall Prize for Arts Criticism, formerly known as the Pascall Prize and then the Walkley-Pascall Award or Walkley-Pascall Award for Arts Criticism, is one of two annual Walkley Arts Journalism prizes awarded by the Walkley Foundation. The ...

winner for ''Eat My Words'' * 1990 — NBC Banjo Award shortlisted for ''The Spider Cup'' * 1992 —

The Age Book of the Year ''The Age'' Book of the Year Awards were annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's ''The Age'' newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. After 1998, they were presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Initially, two awar ...

Imaginative Writing Prize 1992 winner for ''Lovers' Knots: A Hundred-Year Novel'' * 1992 —

Book of the Year 1992 joint winner for ''Lovers' Knots: A Hundred-Year Novel'' * 1993 — NBC Banjo Award shortlisted for ''Lovers' Knots: A Hundred-Year Novel'' * 1994 —

Nita Kibble Literary Award The Kibble Literary Awards comprise two awards—the Nita B Kibble Literary Award, which recognises the work of an established Australian female writer, and the Dobbie Literary Award, which is for a first published work by a female writer. The Awar ...

winner for ''Lovers' Knots: A Hundred-Year Novel'' * 1994 — ACT Book of the Year joint winner for ''Lovers' Knots: A Hundred-Year Novel'' * 1998 —

Fiction Prize shortlisted for ''The Golden Dress'' * 1999 — The Miles Franklin Award shortlisted for ''The Golden Dress'' * 2002 —

shortlisted for ''The Fog Garden'' * 2004 —

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book shortlisted for ''The Point'' * 2004 — ACT Book of the Year winner for ''The Point'' * 2010 — ACT Book of the Year winner for ''Valley of Grace''

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Self Possession'' (1987) * ''Spider Cup'' (1990) * ''Lovers' Knots: A Hundred-Year Novel'' (1992) * ''Wishbone'' (1994) * ''The Golden Dress'' (1998) * ''The Fog Garden'' (2001) * ''The Point'' (2003) * ''The Apricot Colonel'' (2006) * ''Murder on the Apricot Coast'' (2008) * ''Valley of Grace'' (2009) * ''Goodbye Sweetheart'' (2015) * ''Words for Lucy'' (2022)

Short story collections

* ''The Living Hothouse'' (1988) * ''The Hanged Man in the Garden'' (1989) * ''The Worry Box'' (1993) * ''Collected Stories'' (1997) * ''Shooting the Fox'' (2011)

Non-fiction

* ''Eat My Words'' (1990) * ''Out of the Picture'' (1996) - collection * ''Cockles of the Heart'' (1996) - travel * ''Those Women Who Go To Hotels'' (1997) - autobiography, travel * ''The Taste of Memory'' (2004)

Contributed works

* "Most mortal enemy", "Belladonna gardens", and "Perilous seas" published in ''Canberra Tales: Stories'' (1988). "Belladonna gardens" had previously been published in Meanjin, "Perilous seas" in Fiction '88, edited by Frank Moorhouse, ABC Publications.

Edited

* ''The Gift of Story: Three Decades of UQP Short Stories'' (1998) * ''Storykeepers'' (2001)

Children's

* ''The Midwife's Daughters'' (1997)

Critical studies and reviews of Halligan's work

* Review of ''Shooting the fox''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halligan, Marion 1940 births Living people Australian children's writers Australian women novelists People from Canberra Writers from the Australian Capital Territory Members of the Order of Australia 20th-century Australian novelists 21st-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian women writers 21st-century Australian women writers Australian women short story writers Australian women children's writers 20th-century Australian short story writers 21st-century Australian short story writers