Marion Mildred Halligan AM (born 1940) is an Australian writer and novelist. She was born and educated in Newcastle, New South Wales, and worked as a school teacher and journalist before publishing her first short stories. Halligan has served as chairperson of the Literature Board of the Australia Council and the Australian National Word Festival. She currently lives in Canberra. For a number of years she was a member of a group of women writers based in Canberra known as the "Canberra Seven" or "Seven Writers". The group began with three members in 1980, growing to seven by 1984. In addition to Marion Halligan, they were Dorothy Johnston, Margaret Barbalet, Sara Dowse, Suzanne Edgar, Marian Eldridge and Dorothy Horsfield. The group essentially disbanded after Marian Eldridge's death in 1997. However, before that they met regularly to critique each other's work, and published a book of short stories called Canberra Tales in 1988. She was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM), General Division, in 2006 for services to literature and for her work in promoting Australian literature. Awards 1990 — Pascall Prize winner for Eat My Words 1990 — NBC Banjo Award shortlisted for The Spider Cup 1992 — The Age Book of the Year Imaginative Writing Prize 1992 winner for Lovers' Knots: A Hundred-Year Novel 1992 — The Age Book of the Year Book of the Year 1992 joint winner for Lovers' Knots: A Hundred-Year Novel 1993 — NBC Banjo Award shortlisted for Lovers' Knots: A Hundred-Year Novel 1994 — Nita Kibble Literary Award winner for Lovers' Knots: A Hundred-Year Novel 1994 — ACT Book of the Year joint winner for Lovers' Knots: A Hundred-Year Novel 1998 — The Age Book of the Year Fiction Prize shortlisted for The Golden Dress 1999 — The Miles Franklin Award shortlisted for The Golden Dress 2002 — Nita Kibble Literary Award shortlisted for The Fog Garden 2004 — Commonwealth Writers' Prize South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book shortlisted for The Point 2004 — ACT Book of the Year winner for The Point 2010 — ACT Book of the Year winner for Valley of Grace Bibliography Novels Self Possession (1987) Spider Cup (1990) Lovers' Knots: A Hundred-Year Novel (1992) Wishbone (1994) The Golden Dress (1998) The Fog Garden (2001) The Point (2003) The Apricot Colonel (2006) Murder on the Apricot Coast (2008) Valley of Grace (2009) Goodbye Sweetheart (2015)