AustLit

Amanda Lohrey completed her education at the University of Tasmania before winning a scholarship to Cambridge University. Returning to Australia without completing her course, Lohrey worked for several years as a research officer before her appointment as a lecturer in writing and textual studies at the University of Technology, Sydney, from 1988 to 1994.

Lohrey published her first novel, The Morality of Gentlemen, in 1984, but her second novel, The Reading Group (1989), was subject to the threat of a defamation action by a Tasmanian senator. These novels are highly regarded for their exploration of the social and political evil in which ordinary people involuntarily participate. Lohrey's best-known novel is Camille's Bread (1995) which won a number of awards and was short-listed for the Miles Franklin Award. A story of alternative living, Camille's Bread, explores the effect that multi-cultural ideologies have on the relationship between a single mother, her child and partner. Camille's Bread is admired for its use of food as a metaphor for these relationships. Lohrey also collaborated on the novel Secrets (1997) with Robert Dessaix and Drusilla Modjeska.

In addition to her fiction, Lohrey is highly regarded for her essays, reviews and journalism, appearing regularly in newspapers and periodicals. (As an example, see 'Groundswell: The Rise of the Greens', a 20,000 word essay published in Quarterly Essay no.8, 2002.)

From 1988 to 1994, Lohrey lectured in writing and textual studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. In 2002, Lohrey was appointed as lecturer in the (then) School of English, Media Studies and Art History (now Communication and Arts) at The University of Queensland, after which she returned to Tasmania.

Lohrey won a residency under the 2005 Asialink Writers' Residencies programme, during which she planned to build on a long-standing interest in India to advance two works-in-progress. Her subsequent awards have included a Literature Board Fellowship from the Australia Council, the Patrick White Award, and an Australia Council Grant for established writers.

Her works have been shortlisted for a wide range of awards, and have won the Queensland Premier's Literary Award and the Victorian Premier's Literary Award.