AUTHOR

Paddy O'Reilly is a Melbourne born and based writer of fiction and script. Paddy has lived for several years in Japan where she worked at various jobs including translator, copywriter, sultana sales and a one-day stint as Miss Florida Grapefruit Queen in a suburban supermarket.

In recent years, Paddy has won major short story awards in Australia including The Age, The Judah Waten, the Glen Eira My Brother Jack, and the Greater Dandenong. Her short stories have also been widely published and anthologised. THE FACTORY, her first novel, was listed as one of the best books of 2005 in ABR (Australian Book Review).

Paddy loves the short story form and runs inspirational workshops to help participants discover the stories that only they can write. She is available for workshops and talks to secondary students and adults.

"The Factory is a beautifully crafted and intriguing novel; so closely worked and self-consistent each part carries its full effect. The intricate plotting - the way it pieces each part of the story together - equals the way individuals find themselves bound to a group. And the writing, with its watchfulness - its close observation of people and places - creates a world at once lonely and claustrophobic."

- Lisa Gorton, The Age.

"For me, attending Paddy's workshop was one of the best things that I have done for my writing in a very long time. I had a "penny drop" moment which in itself is worth its weight in gold. I would recommend Paddy's workshops to anyone and everyone who has an interest in the short story form."

- Attendee from Paddy's workshop at the Ballarat Writers' Festival 2005.

"Paddy O'Reilly's impressive first novel wrings a deep tension out of a long-unexplained gap between the situations of the student and the prisoner... Hilda becomes caught in the story she had set out to capture."

- Michael McGirr, Sydney Morning Herald.

"It satisfied and challenged intellectually and touched the heart without resorting to mawkish sentiment. [It] made the reader consider their existence and the human condition and you can't do much more than that."

- Robert Drewe, commenting on one of Paddy's stories which is set in the near future.

"Its limpid prose conjures...with a wonderful lightness and sureness of touch."

- Michelle de Krester, commenting on Paddy's winning entry for The Age Short Story Competition.