Cirrus@Austlit

Andrew McGahan was born the ninth of ten children on a wheat farm in Dalby, Queensland. His mother was a teacher and their home had a room dedicated to books. He went to the Catholic school in Dalby then a boarding school, Marist Brothers, for years 11 and 12. He.dropped out of an Arts degree at the University of Queensland after one month and went back to Dalby to help with the family farm and write his first novel which was never published.

McGahan returned to Brisbane where he worked in part-time jobs, lived on the dole and 'wrote piles of bad poetry and short stories' (Interview, Allen & Unwin, 2005). McGahan says he was attracted by 'the romance of being a writer and of living some sort of cool, bohemian lifestyle.' Later he became more interested in the writing itself finding it 'a very pleasant and satisfying way to exist.' While unemployed in 1991, he wrote Praise, a largely autobiographical tale of hard drugs, bodily functions and sex set in Brisbane.

McGahan has been a full-time writer since 1992 resisting offers of part-time employment. In an interview in the Australian he comments that 'A typical day, when he's in the middle of writing a book, is to write for about three hours, sit around a lot, play on the net - especially computer Scrabble, an enduring passion - watch Buffy the Vampire Killer or Star Trek (not much Australian drama), read - hang out. And then cook.' ( The Australian, 4.11.2000).

In an interview given on winning the Commonwealth Writer's Prize in 2005, McGahan stated that he reads nonfiction in preference to novels - 'I'd be stretched to name anything from the last 20 years' although he grew up on a diet of fantasy and horror. He has a passion for politics and sees Australia as a 'cold and hard' place in which what is happening now is 'dark and ugly, socially and politically'. (Interview, Advertiser, 2 July 2005).

McGahan has produced novels, stage plays and screenplays. He moved to Melbourne in 2000. He has won multiple literary awards, including: his first novel, Praise (1992) won The Australian/Vogel's Literary Award; The White Earth (2004) won the Miles Franklin Literary Award; and Wonders of a Godless Worlds won the Aurealis Award in 2009. His final work is The Rich Man's House, published in September 2019.