Released 20/02/2024
The Canberra community has lost a literary icon with the passing of Marion Halligan.
Moving to Canberra in the 1960s, Marion worked as a teacher and journalist before publishing her first short stories in the 1980s.
During her lifetime, she was a prolific writer and novelist, authoring more than 20 books from short stories to non-fiction to children’s books.
No stranger to literary honours, Marion won the ACT Book of the Year three times and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin and the Nita Kibble awards.
Her business was words, and her last book, Words for Lucy, was another significant expression of her talent.
Highly commended for the 2022 ACT Book of the Year, Words for Lucy is a masterful reflection of a mother surviving the aftershocks of her daughter’s death and finding the space to live.
I had the honour of speaking with Marion at that ACT Book of the Year event last December. She was warm and insightful, generous with her time, and obviously thrilled to be part of our celebration for her work, and that of her peers.
Marion will be so dearly missed by the Canberra community. And just as she has inspired and made an enduring impression on her contemporaries—from her readers, to so many authors, and the broader Canberra community—through her artform she will continue to reach, engage and impassion countless future generations.
Vale Marion.
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| Tara Cheyne, MLA | Media Releases