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M. J. Hyland M. J. Hyland i(A25853 works by) (a.k.a. Maria Joan Hyland)
Born: Established: 1968 London,
c
England,
c
c
United Kingdom (UK),
c
Western Europe, Europe,
;
Gender: Female
Arrived in Australia: ca. 1970 Departed from Australia: 2005
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BiographyHistory

Born in London to Irish parents, Hyland came to Australia at the age of two, but moved to Dublin, Ireland at the age of four because her family had not found secure work or accommodation in Sydney. When she was aged eleven, Hyland's family returned to Australia, settling initially in Western Australia and then moving to Melbourne. Hyland is non-committal about her nationality; she has said 'I might live in Manhattan or Edinburgh or Cardiff, I think of myself as without nationality.'

Hyland moved to London in 2005.

(Source of quote: 'Drama of a Life Less Ordinary', an interview conducted by Brigid Delaney and published in the Sydney Morning Herald (Spectrum), 19-20 July 2003, p.3.)

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon This Is How Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2009 Z1601693 2009 single work novel

This Is How tells the story of Patrick Oxtoby, an outsider longing to fit in. When his fiancé Sarah breaks off their engagement, Patrick leaves home and moves to a boarding house in a seaside village a few hours away. In spite of his hopes for a new and better life, Patrick struggles to make friends or make the right impression. He can't shake the feeling that his new acquaintances are conspiring against him, further fracturing his fragile personality and prompting him to take a course of action that alters the course of his life. (Publisher's blurb)

2011 longlisted International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
2010 longlisted Women's Prize for Fiction (UK)
y separately published work icon Carry Me Down Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2006 Z1247272 2006 single work novel thriller

'John Egan is a misfit — "a twelve year old in the body of a grown man with the voice of a giant" — who diligently keeps a "log of lies." John's been able to detect lies for as long as he can remember, it's a source of power but also great consternation for a boy so young. With an obsession for the Guinness Book of Records, a keenly inquisitive mind, and a kind of faith, John remains hopeful despite the unfavorable cards life deals him.

'This is one year in a boy's life. On the cusp of adolescence, from his changing voice and body, through to his parents’ difficult travails and the near collapse of his sanity, John is like a tuning fork sensitive to the vibrations within himself and the trouble that this creates for he and his family.

'Carry Me Down is a restrained, emotionally taut, and sometimes outrageously funny portrait whose drama drives toward, but narrowly averts, an unthinkable disaster.' (Publication summary)

2006 shortlisted The Booker Prize
2007 winner Hawthornden Prize
2007 winner Encore Award
2007 longlisted Women's Prize for Fiction (UK)
2007 shortlisted South East Asia and South Pacific Region Best Book
y separately published work icon How the Light Gets In Camberwell : Penguin , 2003 Z1040089 2003 single work novel

'Lou Connor, a precocious, gifted, and unhappy sixteen-year-old, is offered a place as an exchange student in the United States, something that she hopes will take her far away from her bleak life of poverty in Sydney, Australia. Having endured a childhood with an emotionally crass, deadbeat family, she welcomes the opportunity to live the middle-class life she has long dreamed of. But soon after she moves in with her host family, the Hardings - who live in a prefabricated mansion in a nameless Chicago suburb - Lou's acute need for acceptance and love runs up against the Hardings' suffocating pursuit of a particular form of suburban perfection. How the Light Gets In is a portrait of a girl on the verge of adulthood whose world - like Holden Caulfield's before her - is full of mixed messages.' (Synopsis)

2004 third Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Awards Fiction
2004 shortlisted The Age Book of the Year Award Fiction
2004 joint winner The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist of the Year
Last amended 12 Jul 2018 12:53:00
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