MAURILIA MEEHAN




Maurilia Meehan's fifth novel ,THE BAD SEED, (www.bewrite.net) has recently been published, to critical acclaim.

Maurilia Meehan lives in a country town in south-eastern Australia, where she feeds red rosellas in the mornings and chases away huge white cockatoos at dusk.

She is the award-winning author of five novels and many short stories, and her work has been translated into French and German.

Her first novel, PERFORMANCES, was published by Women's Redress Press, Australia, a now (unfortunately) defunct co-operative. An earlier manuscript version was shortlisted for the AUSTRALIAN VOGEL AWARD.

Then Penguin Australia published FURY, about Olympe de Gouges, an activist guillotined during the French Revolution for her surprisingly modern views on everything from the monarchy to sexual liberation. FURY was translated into German as FURIE HINTER DEN SPIELGELN (Argument Verlag). It was shortlisted for the prestigious MILES FRANKLIN AWARD.

THE SEA PEOPLE (also Penguin) explores an ill-fated first settlement in Sorrento, Australia, where one of Maurilia's ancestors arrived in a convict ship. . (He was transported for stealing a sheep). As in FURY, the narrative travels back and forth in time to tell its story. THE SEA PEOPLE was shortlisted for the LOUIS BRAILLE TALKING BOOKS AWARD

ADULTERY, AN ENTERTAINMENT, also published by Penguin, is about...well...hmmmm. This proved rather a popular topic. Copies are now a rare find, and have been stolen from many libraries...

And now THE BAD SEED, a subtly sinister story, told with humour and grace, is published with Bewrite Books, a welcome sojourn with Maurilia's small press origins.
However, the world of publishing has changed since the days of her first novel, and the reader can order THE BAD SEED directly from online bookstores and from the UK based publisher at
www.bewrite.net
THE SEA PEOPLE, and her other earlier works are best found in various online 'antique/rare/hard-to-find' search sites.

She is currently completing MADAME BOVARY'S HABERDASHERY, the first in a literary /noir humour trilogy.
The second of the trilogy is called WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ELIZABETH COSTELLO?, and the third is THE ATLANTIS ESTATE.
She is also putting together a volume of over thirty published short stories (and some new ones), including the winner of the FAW STATE OF VICTORIA SHORT STORY AWARD. The collection will include a literary/ noir humour novella, centring on reproductive technologies, called THE ARTISANS.

You can purchase THE BAD SEED at Amazon or any other online bookstore and
from the publisher at
www.bewrite.net

OTHER LINKS:

ABC INTERVIEW about THE BAD SEED
www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2006/1809525.htm

from THE BAD SEED in Hecate, University of Queensland. www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go1885/is_200405/ai_n6285664

THE AUSTRALIAN CONNECTION
www.austlit.edu.au/about
A site for exploring MM and Australian writing in general

THE FRENCH CONNECTION
www.zip.com.au/~pounder/jean-paul_delamotte.htm
About MM's story published in LA NOUVELLE REVUE FRANCAISE, 2004

THE GERMAN CONNECTION
www.argument.de/socialfanta/20039.html
About the German version of FURY