Joan O'Hagan

O'Hagan was born in Melbourne and was raised in Canberra. She took classes in Classics (Latin and Greek), as well as ancient history, at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.{{cite news|last1=Stewart|first1=Amy|title=Joan's tome for jerome published|publisher=North Shore Times|date=15 April 2015|id={{ProQuest|1672919200}}}}

O'Hagan later moved to New Caledonia. There she helped in translating into English French book John Grant's Journal: A Convict's Story 1803−11 on behalf of the South Pacific Commission, Noumea. She lived in London in the early fifties, and then moved to Rome with her husband, where she worked in the Australian Department of Immigration. Rome remained her home for the next thirty years, during which time she began writing fiction, initially as a mystery writer.

O'Hagan returned to Australia in 1997 when her first grandchild was born. O'Hagan published five books; her first book was Incline and Fall: The Death of Geoffrey Stretton. As she lay dying, her grandson, Dominic West, a student at Marist College, painted a portrait of her that won the $1,000 the Brian Jordan Award at the annual Religious Art competition.{{cite news|last1=Pogson|first1=Jenny|title=Insightful painting takes prize|publisher=North Shore Times|date=2 April 2014|id={{ProQuest|1511532023}}}}

O'Hagan finished her final book, Jerome & His Women, just days before her death, writing its preface on her death bed. The book, a work of historical fiction set in Rome during the fourth century, was praised by Mario Baghos, of Sydney’s St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College, as "meticulously researched and well informed."{{cite news|last1=Baghos|first1=Mario|title=Joan O'Hagan, Jerome & His Women|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312057959|accessdate=12 November 2017|date=2 December 2016}}

• [http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/684464 Incline and Fall: The Death of Geoffrey Stretton (Angus & Robertson 1976)]
• [http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/520122 Death and a Madonna (Macmillan 1986)]
• [http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3118877 Against the Grain (Macmillan 1987)]
• [http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/158980/ A Roman Death (Macmillan 1988, first edition)]
• [https://blackquillpress.com/independent-publishing/a-roman-death/ A Roman Death (Black Quill Press 2017, second edition)]
• [http://www.nswwc.org.au/2016/04/book-review-jerome-and-his-women-by-joan-ohagan/ Jerome & His Women (Black Quill Press 2015)] {{cite web | title=Social, political and theological turmoil brought to life in last work by Sydney author | website=Medianet | url=https://www.medianet.com.au/releases/91243/ | access-date=17 July 2017}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.joanohagan.com/ Official website]
• [http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/885220.Joan_O_Hagan Good Reads reference]
• [http://australianwomenwriters.com/2017/10/sunday-spotlight-joan-ohagan/ Sunday Spotlight reference]
• [http://www.iped-editors.org/News_and_events/View_News/Rosie_Award_shortlist_announced.aspx Rosanne Fitzgibbon Editorial Award shortlist for Jerome & His Women]
• [https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/jerome-his-women/ Jerome & his Women review by Joanna Urquhart, Historical Novel Society]
• [http://www.richardblake.me.uk/review-joan-ohagans-roman-death/ A Roman Death review by Richard Blake, historical novelist, 2017]
• [https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/sallys-cafe-and-bookstore-new-on-the-shelves-a-roman-death-by-joan-ohagan/ Featured works of Joan O’Hagan - Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore]

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Category:Australian fiction writers

Category:1926 births

Category:2014 deaths

Category:Australian women crime writers

Category:Australian women writers