Audrey Magee

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Audrey Magee
BornIreland
OccupationNovelist and journalist
NationalityIrish
Education University College Dublin;
Dublin City University
Website
audreymagee.com

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. [1] [2] [3] [4] Her novel The Colony was longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize. [5]

Contents

Biography

Born in Ireland, Magee studied German and French at University College Dublin and journalism at Dublin City University. [6] For 12 years, she worked as a journalist, writing for publications such as The Times , The Irish Times , The Observer , and The Guardian . [6]

In 2014, Magee published The Undertaking, her debut novel. [4] It was published by Atlantic Books. [7] 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." [7]

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." [3] Magee took a "long time" to write the novel, as she "struggled with the novel's cruelty and indifference." [3] To cope, she took walks and drank tea. [3] 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." [4]

Magee lives in Wicklow with her husband and three daughters. [8]

Her novel The Colony – which "follows two outsiders who travel to a small island off the west coast of Ireland in search of answers" [9] – was longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize. [10]

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References

  1. ↑ Dunmore, Helen (1 March 2014). "The Undertaking by Audrey Magee – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  2. ↑ Popescu, Lucy (2 February 2014). "Book review: The Undertaking by Audrey Magee | Reviews | Culture". The Independent . Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "A Q&A with Audrey Magee about The Undertaking". Irishtimes.com. 13 February 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Thomas, Louisa (14 September 2014). "Love and Fascism — 'The Undertaking,' by Audrey Magee". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  5. ↑ Shaffi, Sarah (26 July 2022). "Booker prize longlist of 13 writers aged 20 to 87 announced". The Guardian.
  6. 1 2 BookBrowse. "Audrey Magee author biography". BookBrowse.com. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  7. 1 2 O'Loughlin, Vanessa (13 February 2014). "The Undertaking: Eleanor Fitzsimons Talks to Audrey Magee". Writing.ie. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  8. ↑ "About Audrey Magee - Author of 'The Undertaking'". www.audreymagee.com. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ Bayley, Sian (26 July 2022). "Booker Prize longlist dominated by indies as judges pick youngest and oldest ever nominees". The Bookseller .
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