Background
Marion Halligan, born as Marion Mildred Crothall, came to the world on April 16, 1940, in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. She is a daughter of A. J. Crothall, a public servant, and M. Crothall (maiden name Cogan), a homemaker.
The Order of Australia which Marion Halligan received in 2006.
(Collected Stories gathers together fifty-five of Halligan...)
Collected Stories gathers together fifty-five of Halligan's witty, ironic, insightful stories, many previously uncollected, others from 'The Living Hothouse' and 'The Hanged Man in the Garden'
https://www.amazon.com/Collected-Stories-Marion-Halligan-Fiction/dp/0702229326/?tag=2022091-20
1997
(The book is a rollercoaster of a story about the nature o...)
The book is a rollercoaster of a story about the nature of fiction and how life creates art, how adultery can be liberating and how sex doesn't stop with age, and how grief is as much a gift as love
https://www.amazon.com/Fog-Garden-Marion-Halligan/dp/1865087696/?tag=2022091-20
2001
(Themes of destruction, loss, and desire are explored in t...)
Themes of destruction, loss, and desire are explored in this intricately crafted novel which goes much deeper than surface perceptions, revealing the complexities of human relationships
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IQT1VK/?tag=2022091-20
2003
(In prose as sensuous and seductive as a beautiful flower ...)
In prose as sensuous and seductive as a beautiful flower and a tasty dish, Marion Halligan embarks on a wandering journey into her novels, between past and present, across continents and laboring in gardens and kitchens
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TKO6MTU/?tag=2022091-20
2004
(With characteristic panache, much reading between the lin...)
With characteristic panache, much reading between the lines, and a magnificent wardrobe of women's clothes (his), Cassandra and her colonel set out to find the truth in this eagerly awaited sequel to The Apricot Colonel.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003NSC5PY/?tag=2022091-20
2008
(Capturing the contemporary Parisian lives of an interwove...)
Capturing the contemporary Parisian lives of an interwoven group of friends, this intoxicating work is written by a literary novelist at the height of her powers
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IQX7E2/?tag=2022091-20
2009
Marion Halligan, born as Marion Mildred Crothall, came to the world on April 16, 1940, in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. She is a daughter of A. J. Crothall, a public servant, and M. Crothall (maiden name Cogan), a homemaker.
Marion Halligan was raised by the sea. She entered the University of Newcastle in 1957 and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors four years later. In 1962, Halligan obtained her Diploma of Education.
Living most of her life in Canberra, Australia, Marion Halligan started her career as a school teacher. In 1963, she joined the teacher’s staff of Canberra High School, Australian Capital Territory where she served for a couple of years. From 1974 to 1986, she worked at Canberra Girls Grammar School. A year later, she served as a chair at the Australian National Word Festival.
The same year, ‘Self Possession’, the first of the author’s novels was published. It concerned a physically plain, socially maladjusted university student who is transformed into a striking, confident woman under the ministrations of two conniving couples and an arrogant artist. Halligan has also tried herself as a writer for opera creating the libretto for a children's opera, a trilogy of plays for the Melbourne Theater Company. The debut collection of her works, ‘The Living Hothouse’, issued in 1988, firmed her reputation as a prolific and accomplished writer.
Since the beginning of the new decade, she was actively involved in the literary life of the country combining writing with other activities related to the field. In 1990, Marion Halligan became a writer in residence at Charles Stuart University in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. Later, she held the same post at Monash University, and La Trobe University, both in Melbourne. From 1992 to 1995, she chaired a Literature Board of Australia Council.
This period, she had an opportunity to unite her passion for food and writing. In 1994, she was commissioned a series of restaurant performances by the Melbourne International Festival to be performed between eating sessions of patrons. As a result, Halligan created five so-called ‘Gastronomicas’ stories which plots were produced in a manner to match each of five opulent Melbourne 19th-century restaurants. Since then, writings on food occupied an important place in Halligan’s works.
The debut publication of the writer has been followed by many other short fiction and nonfiction novels, short stories, and reviews which were acclaimed both by readers and critics. She has also been involved in such projects as ‘Out of the Picture’ photographs held by the National Library of Australia, Canberra Museum and Gallery exhibitions, and as a visiting curator at the Newcastle Regional Museum in 2002.
In addition to her own publications, Marion Halligan has contributed to anthologies, such as ‘Canberra Tales’, and periodicals, including The Age, The Australian, Australian Book Review, and The Canberra Times.
Marion Halligan’s most recent work is 2015 ‘Goodbye Sweetheart’.
(With characteristic panache, much reading between the lin...)
2008(In prose as sensuous and seductive as a beautiful flower ...)
2004(The book is a rollercoaster of a story about the nature o...)
2001(Collected Stories gathers together fifty-five of Halligan...)
1997(Themes of destruction, loss, and desire are explored in t...)
2003(Capturing the contemporary Parisian lives of an interwove...)
2009(On love and loss, sex and death, food and gardening – a b...)
2011(It is a powerful novel of love, the desire for understand...)
2015(A book in collaboration with Lucy Frost)
1996In her writings, Marion Halligan focuses on the inner senses and personal and cultural fantasies of everyday life.
According to her, food and stories are the most significant things in our life.
Quotations:
"The point of writing a literary novel is to find out what it is you are writing a novel about. You must not wait until you know where you are going, either that will never happen or it will make the process very dull."
"I am interested in words and stories. I think that when you find the words you find out what it is you want to say. Stories are what people are good at, both telling them and listening to them. In both fiction and non-fiction story-telling is important, though it may not always be simple; sometimes narratives are hidden."
"What really interests me is putting the world as I perceive it into words. It is by finding words for things that I and so my readers can understand them."
"Looking back over my writing I realise it is often about choice and chance, though I don't start with these notions. And I write about ordinary lives, and how amazing they are."
Marion Halligan joined the members of Canberra Seven also known as Seven Writers which gathered a group of women writers based in Canberra. Among them were Dorothy Johnston, Margaret Barbalet, Sara Dowse, Suzanne Edgar, Marian Eldridge, and Dorothy Horsfield. The group was dissolved in 1997 after the death of Marian Eldridge.
Halligan has also been a member of the Australian Symposium of Gastronomy, and the Australian Capital Territory Writers' Centre.
She is a member of the Australian Society of Authors.
Marion Halligan married Graham James Halligan, a university lecturer, on June 8, 1963. The family produced two children named Lucy Beatrice and James Sebastian.
Graham James died of cancer in November 1998.