Marion Halligan
Words For Lucy
Thames & Hudson, 2022
One morning, Lucy Halligan lay on her bed with her cat and went to sleep. Soon after, her heart stopped. But her mother, writer Marion Halligan, forced hers to keep beating.
More joy than sorrow, this profoundly moving memoir celebrates Lucy’s life, weaving together everyday details and treasured events.
Words for Lucy sees Marion at the peak of her writing powers, telling the story of a mother surviving the aftershocks of death and finding the space to live.
Highly Commended, 2024 ACT Book of the Year
Huge congratulations to Frank Bongiorno whose book Dreamers and Schemers was named ACT Book of the Year. We also wish to congratulate those Highly Commended: Lohrey by Julianne Lamond and Words for Lucy by Marion Halligan
“A sublime book about the small joys that make up a treasured life, from a writer of unfathomable grace and stoicism.”
Goodbye Sweetheart
Allen & Unwin, 2015
A powerful novel of love, the desire for understanding, and the inevitable messiness of life.
A successful lawyer, bon vivant, loving husband and father, has a heart attack and dies while swimming in the local pool. A man apparently happily married, yet, with two divorces behind him and three puzzled children. In death it seems that he is not the person everyone thought.
As his extended family gathers to mourn, secrets and lies unfold uncomfortably around them. Those pornographic images on his laptop? An unexpected lover - is he still philandering? But somewhere in the turmoil of mourning each of them has to find an answer to the question - who was this man really? What mysteries has he taken to the grave with him?
Goodbye Sweetheart is a powerful novel of love, the desire for understanding, and the inevitable messiness of life.
“Halligan’s craft has a deceptively simple surface, belying its rich textures and sensuality.”
About the Author
Marion Halligan AM (1940-1924) was an Australian writer and novelist. She was born and educated in Newcastle, New South Wales, and worked as a school teacher and journalist before publishing her first short stories. She wrote twenty-three books, including six works of non-fiction and five short story collections, and one play.
Marion was a founding 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, Margaret Barbalet, Sara Dowse, Suzanne Edgar, Marian Eldridge 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. The colourful MARION graphic used across our collateral is an acknowledgment of this important group of tenacious, talented writers. The form is divided into seven; one for each member of the group.
Marion served as chair of the Literature Board of the Australia Council and the Australian National Word Festival. In 2006 she was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM), General Division, for services to literature and for her work in promoting Australian writing.
Marion was Patron of MARION (formerly ACT Writers) and involved with the organisation from it’s inception in the mid 1990s.
