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Novelist receives Young Distinguished Alumni Award

October 09, 2006

Emily MaguireA 30-year-old novelist has received the 2006 University of New England Young Distinguished Alumni Award.

Emily Maguire – whose second novel was released last week – was presented with her award by UNE's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Pettigrew, during Saturday's graduation ceremony.

Professor Pettigrew described Ms Maguire as a “role model for young graduates wanting careers in the creative industries”, and said she was “self-motivated, determined, and willing to make herself known to people with influence in those industries”.

“She is truly a young distinguished graduate of the University of New England,” he said.

Ms Maguire holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts from UNE, both majoring in English.

Her first novel, Taming the Beast, was published in 2004 to excellent reviews. It dealt with the fallout from an affair between a 14-year-old girl and her high school English teacher, and was described by The Age as a “thought-provoking and searing first novel”.

Her second book, The Gospel According to Luke, also deals with an illicit relationship, this time between the pastor of a fundamentalist Pentacostal youth group and a jaded sexual health counsellor. Ms Maguire said she wrote the book as a response to the rise of fundamentalist groups in Australia, both religious and secular.

“I wanted to address fundamentalisms of all kinds,” she said, “and to explore the different kinds of damage they do.”

The Gospel According to Luke will be launched in Sydney later this month, after which Ms Maguire will travel to the US for a five-city tour to promote Taming the Beast.

After dropping out of high school at the beginning of Year 11, Ms Maguire completed a business diploma and worked at a number of jobs, before returning to study as a mature-aged student.

“I really felt with the low-skilled jobs I had been doing that I had lost track,” she said. “I came back to study and started writing at the same time.”

“I have always written but I do not exaggerate when I say that UNE taught me to be a writer.”

In addition to her novels, she has also contributed opinion pieces to The Observer (UK), The Sydney Morning Herald, and the Griffith Review.

She said receiving the Young Distinguished Alumni Award was “a kick”.

“I went to a selective school, so all my friends were doctors and lawyers. I always felt like an academic loser, so it's really thrilling to have this.”

“The other thing I will say, I feel really lucky to be doing exactly what I wanted, so to get an award for doing what I like seems particularly cool.”

For more information contact Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771. A photo is available to accompany this story.

Posted by Leon Braun at October 9, 2006 04:26 PM