| Audrey Magee | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ireland |
| Occupation | Novelist and journalist |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Education | University College Dublin; Dublin City University |
| Website | |
| audreymagee | |
Audrey Magee is an Irish novelist and journalist. Her debut novel, The Undertaking, was nominated for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction in 2014. Her novel The Colony was longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize.
Biography
Born in Ireland, Magee studied German and French at University College Dublin and journalism at Dublin City University. For 12 years, she worked as a journalist, writing for publications such as The Times, The Irish Times, The Observer, and The Guardian.
In 2014, Magee published The Undertaking, her debut novel. It was published by Atlantic Books. The novel is set in World War II-era Germany and "tells the story of Peter Faber, a German soldier fighting on the Eastern front, who marries Katharina Spinell, a woman he has never met, in order to escape the horrors of the battlefield for a few days."
She wrote The Undertaking with the goal of trying to understand "what it was like to have been an ordinary German during the Second World War." Magee took a "long time" to write the novel, as she "struggled with the novel's cruelty and indifference." To cope, she took walks and drank tea. A review of the novel in The New York Times said: "To write a story that doesn't allow for much sympathy, that keeps readers at a remove from the central characters, is one of the greatest challenges an author can undertake. That Magee succeeds as well as she does is impressive."
Magee lives in Wicklow with her husband and three daughters.
Her novel The Colony – which "follows two outsiders who travel to a small island off the west coast of Ireland in search of answers" – was longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize.
References
- Dunmore, Helen (1 March 2014). "The Undertaking by Audrey Magee – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
- Popescu, Lucy (2 February 2014). "Book review: The Undertaking by Audrey Magee | Reviews | Culture". The Independent. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
- ^ "A Q&A with Audrey Magee about The Undertaking". Irishtimes.com. 13 February 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
- ^ Thomas, Louisa (14 September 2014). "Love and Fascism — 'The Undertaking,' by Audrey Magee". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
- Shaffi, Sarah (26 July 2022). "Booker prize longlist of 13 writers aged 20 to 87 announced". The Guardian.
- ^ BookBrowse. "Audrey Magee author biography". BookBrowse.com. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ O'Loughlin, Vanessa (13 February 2014). "The Undertaking: Eleanor Fitzsimons Talks to Audrey Magee". Writing.ie. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- "About Audrey Magee - Author of 'The Undertaking'". www.audreymagee.com. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
- Raghnaill, Eoin Mac (29 July 2022). "Wicklow-based novelist Audrey Magee's book chosen for Booker Prize for Fiction longlist". Independent.ie. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- Bayley, Sian (26 July 2022). "Booker Prize longlist dominated by indies as judges pick youngest and oldest ever nominees". The Bookseller.