Gabrielle Carey
{{Short description|Australian writer (1959–2023)}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2023}}
{{Use Australian English|date=January 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{infobox person
| name = Gabrielle Carey
| birth_date = {{birth date|1959|01|10|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|05|02|1959|01|10|df=yes}}[https://onlineregistry.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/content/search-probate-notice "Probate Notice: Gabrielle Carey"]. NSW Probate Index. 4 May 2023 – via Ryerson Index.
| death_place = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| education = University of Sydney
| occupation = Writer
| known_for = Novelist, journalist
}}
Gabrielle Carey (10 January 1959 – 2 May 2023) was an Australian writer who co-wrote the teen novel, Puberty Blues with Kathy Lette. This novel was the first teenage novel published in Australia that was written by teenagers.{{IMDb name|nm0136952}} Carey became a senior lecturer in the Creative Writing program at the University of Technology Sydney, studying James Joyce and Randolph Stow.{{cite web|title=Gabrielle Carey|url=https://www.uts.edu.au/staff/gabrielle.carey|publisher=University of Technology Sydney|access-date=31 March 2017}}
Life and career
Carey was born in Sydney, New South Wales, and was raised in an atheist, humanist household. Her father was Alex Carey.
Carey met Kathy Lette at the age of 12 while still at school and they became best friends. Both left school early (Carey at 15 and Lette a year later) against the wishes of their families. Leaving home, they shared a flat together and wrote Puberty Blues, which was based on the lives of young male surfers in Sydney and their girlfriends. The novel shocked many people by its graphic description of teenage behaviour.
Once the book was published Carey and Lette separated and their lives moved in different directions.{{cite web|title=The Big Chill|publisher=ABC|work=Australian Story|type=transcript|url=http://www.abc.net.au/austory/transcripts/s685468.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719162155/http://www.abc.net.au/austory/transcripts/s685468.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 July 2012 |access-date= 2007-09-15}} In 1981, Bruce Beresford directed a film adaptation of the novel.{{cite news |last=Smith|first=Russsell|date=6 May 2023|title=Gabrielle Carey was best known for Puberty Blues – but I knew her as a formidable intellectual who mastered the art of living well|url=https://theconversation.com/gabrielle-carey-was-best-known-for-puberty-blues-but-i-knew-her-as-a-formidable-intellectual-who-mastered-the-art-of-living-well-205123|work=The Conversation|location= |access-date=13 May 2023}}
Carey and Lette also wrote a column for the Sun Herald, under the name "The Salami Sisters".{{cite news |last=Cassidy|first=Caitlin|date=5 May 2023|title=Gabrielle Carey, co-author of Puberty Blues, dies aged 64|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/may/05/gabrielle-carey-death-puberty-blues-dies-aged-64|work=The Guardian|location= |access-date=13 May 2023}}
A telefilm version of Carey's autobiographical book, Just Us, an account of her relationship with Parramatta Gaol prisoner, Terry Haley, was made in 1986.{{cite news|last=Lambert|first=Tarla|date=6 May 2023|title=A brilliant life "cut short": Vale Gabrielle Carey, co-author of Puberty Blues|url=https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/a-brilliant-life-cut-short-vale-gabrielle-carey-co-author-of-puberty-blues|work=Women's Agenda|location= |access-date=13 May 2023}} It was directed by Gordon Glenn from a screenplay by Ted Roberts.{{cite web |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7b558f48|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230513080409/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7b558f48|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 May 2023|title=Just Us (1986)|author= |date= |website=British Film Institute|publisher= |access-date=13 May 2023|quote=Director: Gordon Glenn; Script: Ted Roberts; From the book by: Gabrielle Carey}}
While in Ireland in the mid-1980s, she converted to the Catholic faith, becoming convinced of the importance of spirituality in everyday life. After a year in Ireland she left and for several years lived in a small village in Mexico, returning to Australia in the early 1990s.
Her 2020 book, Only Happiness Here, was shortlisted for the 2021 Nib Literary Award.{{Cite web|date=2021-09-27|title=Nib Literary Award 2021 shortlist announced|url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/09/27/194049/nib-literary-award-2021-shortlist-announced/|access-date=2021-09-29|website=Books+Publishing|language=en-AU}} Moving Among Strangers won the Prime Minister's Literary Award in 2014.https://www.griffithreview.com/articles/gabrielle-carey/#:~:text=Featured%20in,Award%20for%20Moving%20Among%20Strangers.
Carey had a daughter and a son. She lived in Sydney and was a freelance writer, penning occasional articles for The Sydney Morning Herald and other newspapers. She had lectured at several universities throughout her life, including the University of Sydney and the University of Canberra. Until 2020, taught creative writing at the University of Technology, Sydney.{{cite web |url=https://www.uts.edu.au/about/faculty-arts-and-social-sciences/news/vale-and-thank-you-dr-gabrielle-carey|title=Vale and thank you Dr Gabrielle Carey|author= |date=11 May 2023|website=UTS News|publisher=University of Technology, Sydney|access-date=13 May 2023|quote=An esteemed author and academic, Gabrielle taught creative writing in the faculty for fifteen years until 2020. }}
Carey died suddenly in early May 2023, at the age of 64.{{cite news |last=Bond|first=Nick|date=5 May 2023|title='Beyond saddened': Puberty Blues author Gabrielle Carey dead at 64|url=https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/celebrity-deaths/beyond-saddenedpuberty-blues-author-gabrielle-carey-dead-at-64/news-story/1a891138f85b793bdfde1ac7082efc73|work=news.com.au|location= |access-date=13 May 2023}}
Bibliography
{{Incomplete list|date=July 2022}}
=Novels=
- Puberty Blues with Kathy Lette (McPhee Gribble, 1979) {{ISBN|0-86914-010-8}}
- The Borrowed Girl (Picador, 1994) {{ISBN|0-330-35598-8}}
=Autobiography and memoir=
- Just Us (Penguin Books, 1984) {{ISBN|0-14-007425-2}}
- In My Father's House (Pan Macmillan Publishers Australia, 1992) {{ISBN|0-330-27294-2}}
- Moving among Strangers: Randolph Stow and My Family (University of Queensland Press, 2013) {{ISBN|9780702249921}}
- Falling Out of Love with Ivan Southall (Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2018) {{ISBN|9781925801538}}
=Other non-fiction=
- The Penguin Book of Death with Rosemary Sorensen (Penguin Books, 1997) {{ISBN|0-14-025938-4}}
- So Many Selves (ABC Books, 2006) {{ISBN|978-0-7333-1982-2}}
- Waiting Room (Scribe Publications, 2009) {{ISBN|978-1-921372-62-9}}
- {{cite book |title=Only Happiness Here: In Search of Elizabeth von Arnim |location=St Lucia, Qld. |publisher=University of Queensland Press |year=2020 }}
=Critical studies and reviews of Carey's work=
;Only Happiness Here
- {{cite journal |author=Roemhild, Juliane |date=January–February 2021 |title=Writing Happiness: A Lively Look at Elizabeth von Arnim |journal=Australian Book Review |volume=428 |pages=50}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official|https://www.gabriellecarey.com.au/}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carey, Gabrielle}}
Category:20th-century Australian novelists
Category:20th-century Australian women writers
Category:Australian autobiographies
Category:Australian expatriates in Ireland
Category:Australian expatriates in Mexico
Category:Australian freelance journalists
Category:Australian Roman Catholics
Category:Australian women novelists
Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism
Category:University of Technology Sydney alumni
Category:Academic staff of the University of Technology Sydney