Emily O'Grady

Emily O'Grady (born 1991 ) is an Australian author. She won the 2018 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award for her debut novel The Yellow House and was shortlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize for her second novel Feast. In 2024 she was one of three authors named as The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists.

Early life and education

Emily O'Grady was born in 1991 in Brisbane, Australia. She holds a PhD from the Queensland University of Technology, where she has also taught creative writing.

Career

O'Grady began writing her first novel, The Yellow House, as part of a course she undertook while studying towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Queensland University of Technology.

O'Grady's second novel, Feast, was published by Allen and Unwin in May 2023. The work is a gothic novel that follows a reclusive couple living in a dilapidated Scottish mansion. The novel's setting was loosely based on Craigend Castle, which had once belonged to one of O'Grady's maternal ancestors. O'Grady undertook a trip to Scotland in 2019 to conduct research for the novel, where she walked the Cateran Trail and visited Craigend Castle. In The Guardian, Bec Kavanagh described the novel as a "triumph" and praised O'Grady's rendering of her characters.

Works

The Yellow House (2018) Feast (2023)