Emily O'Grady

Emily O'Grady (born 1991^[1]) 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.^[2][3] In 2024 she was one of three authors named as The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists.^[4]

Emily O'Grady was born in 1991 in Brisbane, Australia.^[1] She studied creative writing at university and initially planned to work in the publishing industry, but decided to pursue a career as an author after some of her short stories were published in literary journals.^[5] She holds a PhD from the Queensland University of Technology, where she has also taught creative writing.^[6][7]

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.^[7] The novel is narrated by a 10-year-old girl named Cub whose grandfather committed a series of murders before she was born.^[2] O'Grady has explained that she had been interested in true crime since she was a child, and that the novel had been inspired by the conviction of Matthew Milat, great-nephew of serial killer Ivan Milat, for murder.^[5] The manuscript for The Yellow House was the winner of the 2018 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award and was published by Allen and Unwin in April 2018.^[5] Louise Swinn reviewed the book in The Sydney Morning Herald, writing that it was a polished first novel with a dark and unsettling narrative and a chilling momentum.^[2] In a review published in Australian Book Review, Jay Daniel Thompson praised O'Grady's storytelling skills and described the novel as having an understated air of suspense and intrigue.^[8]

O'Grady's second novel, Feast, was published by Allen and Unwin in May 2023.^[9] The work is a gothic novel that follows a reclusive couple living in a dilapidated Scottish mansion.^[10] The novel's setting was loosely based on Craigend Castle, which had once belonged to one of O'Grady's maternal ancestors.^[11] 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.^[11] The novel was positively received by reviewers upon its release and was shortlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize.^[3] In The Sydney Morning Herald, Jo Case wrote that the novel invited readers to reappraise notions of consent and power in the post-#MeToo era and described it as unsettling and exquisitely paced.^[12] In The Guardian, Bec Kavanagh described the novel as a "triumph" and praised O'Grady's rendering of her characters.^[13]

• The Yellow House (2018) ISBN 9781760529932
• Feast (2023) ISBN 9781761067112