Gillian Mears (21 July 1964 – 16 May 2016) was an Australian short story writer and novelist. Her books Ride a Cock Horse and The Grass Sister won a Commonwealth Writers' Prize, shortlist, in 1989 and 1996, respectively. The Mint Lawn won The Australian/Vogel Award.[1] In 2003, A Map of the Gardens won the Steele Rudd Award.[2]

Gillian Mears
Born(1964-07-21)21 July 1964
Lismore, New South Wales, Australia
Died16 May 2016(2016-05-16) (aged 51)
Near Grafton, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationWriter
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAustralian

Life

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Mears was born at Lismore Base Hospital, and raised in Grafton, New South Wales where she was school dux of Grafton High School.[3]

She moved to Sydney to study at university, beginning a degree in archaeology at the University of Sydney having been inspired to pursue a career in archaeology after reading Gods, Graves and Scholars by C. W. Ceram. At the age of 18, she withdrew from the course, and instead completed a degree in communications at University of Technology, Sydney.[3]

She lived near Grafton, New South Wales. She died in May 2016 after living with multiple sclerosis for seventeen years.[4]

Bernadette Brennan has written a biography of Gillian Mears.[5]

Awards and honours

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Works

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Novels

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  • —— (1991). The Mint Lawn. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781863730167.
  • —— (1995). The Grass Sister. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780091831219.
  • —— (2011). Foal's Bread. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781742376295.

Children's book

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Short story collections

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Non-fiction

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Essays

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References

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  1. ^ The Prime of Ms Mears, archived from the original on 4 March 2016
  2. ^ "Alive in Ant and Bee by Gillian Mears". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. February 2009. Archived from the original on 12 November 2012.
  3. ^ a b Purcell, John. "Gillian Mears, author of Foal's Bread, answers Ten Terrifying Questions". Booktopia. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  4. ^ Steger, Jason (19 May 2016). "Gillian Mears: Prize-winning author and euthanasia advocate dies". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 21 May 2016.
  5. ^ Bernadette Brennan (September 2021). "Leaping into Waterfalls". Allen & Unwin. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  6. ^ ALS Gold Medal: Previous award winners, Association for the Study of Australian Literature, 2014, archived from the original on 11 December 2014
  7. ^ Allen and Unwin, Foal's Bread
  8. ^ Romei, Stephen (23 July 2012). "Mears wins PM's literary award for Foal's Bread". The Australian. News Limited.
  9. ^ Bond, Sue (October 2002), A Map of the Gardens, archived from the original on 30 September 2012

Further reading

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  • Hawley, Janet (7 May 2002). "Runaway success". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 13 November 2015.
  • Brennan, Bernadette. "Romance and reality" (PDF). Openbook. State Library of NSW. pp. 52–55. Retrieved 16 May 2022.