Fiona Kelly McGregor is an Australian

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

ist, and

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

whose third novel, ''

Indelible Ink Electoral ink, indelible ink, electoral stain or phosphoric ink is a semi-permanent ink or dye that is applied to the finger of voters (usually the index finger) during elections in order to prevent electoral fraud such as double voting. It is us ...

'', won the 2011 The Age Book of the Year Award.

Early life and education

McGregor was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Career

McGregor has written for a variety of publications including ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'', ''

HEAT In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer between a thermodynamic system and its surroundings by such mechanisms as thermal conduction, electromagnetic radiation, and friction, which are microscopic in nature, involving sub-atomic, ato ...

'', ''

Sydney Review of Books The ''Sydney Review of Books'' (''SRB'') is an online literary magazine established in 2013. According to the journal's inaugural editor James Ley it was created to address shortcomings in Australian book reviews. Awards In 2019 ''SRB'' co ...

'', ''

Meanjin ''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is one of Australia's longest-running literary magazines. Established in 1940 in Brisbane, it moved to Melbourne in 1945 and as of 2008 is an editorially independent impri ...

'', ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'', ''

Art Monthly ''Art Monthly'' is a magazine of contemporary art founded in 1976 by Jack Wendler and Peter Townsend. It is based in London and has an international scope, although its main focus is on British art. The magazine is published ten times a year ( ...

'', ''

The Monthly ''The Monthly'' is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer ...

'', ''

The Saturday Paper ''The Saturday Paper'' is an Australian weekly newspaper, launched on 1 March 2014 in hard copy, as an online newspaper and in mobile news format. The paper is circulated throughout Australian capital cities and major regional centres. Since i ...

'' and ''

RealTime Real-time, realtime, or real time may refer to: Computing * Real-time computing, hardware and software systems subject to a specified time constraint * Real-time clock, a computer clock that keeps track of the current time * Real-time Control Syst ...

''. In 2020 she began publishing under her full name, Fiona Kelly McGregor. Following the publication of her first two books in 1993 and 1994, McGregor was named one of the inaugural ''Sydney Morning Herald'' Best Young Australian Novelists in 1997. Since then, McGregor has won and been shortlisted for multiple awards for her short stories, novels and essays. As a performance artist McGregor toured with ''You Have the Body'', a meditation on unlawful detention, in 2008–09, and she screened her 4-hour video ''Vertigo'' at the MOP gallery in Sydney in February 2011. In November 2011, she presented a solo show at

Artspace Visual Arts Centre Artspace, officially Artspace Visual Arts Centre, is an independent, not-for-profit, and non-collecting residency-based contemporary art centre. Artspace is housed in the historic The Gunnery, Woolloomooloo, Gunnery Building in Woolloomooloo, ...

, Sydney, entitled Water Series. Her fourth book, ''Strange Museums'', is a travel memoir about a performance art tour McGregor undertook through Poland in 2006.

Awards and nominations

* 1992 winner — John Morrison VFAW short story prize — "Dirt" * 1992 shortlisted

The Australian/Vogel Literary Award ''The Australian''/Vogel Literary Award was an Australian literary award for unpublished manuscripts by writers under the age of 35. The prize money AUD$20,000, was the richest and most prestigious award for an unpublished manuscript in Austra ...

(for an unpublished manuscript) — ''Au Pair'' * 1995 winner Steele Rudd Award — ''Suck My Toes'' * 1997 named one of the Best Young Australian Novelists by ''

'' * 2003 shortlisted

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...

— Christina Stead Prize for Fiction — ''Chemical Palace'' * 2010 shortlisted

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an annual book award provided by the Government of Western Australia, and managed by the State Library of Western Australia. History and format Annual literary awards were inaugurated by the Wes ...

— Fiction — ''Indelible Ink'' * 2011 shortlisted Indie Awards — Fiction — ''Indelible Ink'' * 2011 shortlisted Barbara Jefferis Award — ''Indelible Ink'' * 2011 winner The Age Book of the Year Award — Fiction Prize — ''Indelible Ink'' * 2011 winner The Age Book of the Year Award — Book of the Year — ''Indelible Ink'' * 2019 winner Woollahra Digital Literary Award — non-fiction — ''The Hot Desk'' * 2022 shortlisted

Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction The Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction, formerly known as the Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction, is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award. As of 2011 it has a remuneration of 25,000. The winner of this category ...

— ''Buried Not Dead'' * 2022 shortlisted Woollahra Digital Literary Award — non-fiction — ''Acts of Avoidance'' * 2023 longlisted

Stella Prize The Stella Prize is an Australian annual literary award established in 2013 for writing by Australian women in all genres, worth $50,000. It was originally proposed by Australian women writers and publishers in 2011, modelled on the UK's Bailey ...

— novel — ''Iris'' * 2023 shortlisted NSW Premier's Awards — Christine Stead Award for fiction — ''Iris'' * 2023 shortlisted

ALS Gold Medal The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS Gold Medal) is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for "an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year." From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the ...

— ''Iris'' * 2023 shortlisted

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the Will (law), will of Miles Franklin ...

— ''Iris''

Selected works

Novels

* ''Au Pair'' (1993) * ''Chemical Palace'' (2002) * ''

'' (2010) * ''Iris'' (2022)

Short story collections

* ''Suck My Toes'' (1994)

Non-fiction

* ''Strange Museums: A Journey Through Poland'' (2008) (travel memoir, performance art critique) * ''A Novel Idea'' (2019) (photoessay) *''Buried Not Dead'' (2021) (essay collection)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McGregor, Fiona Kelly Living people Australian performance artists Australian women novelists Writers from Sydney 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian women Grunge lit authors Date of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)