COLLEEN McCULLOUGH

She was an Australian writer known for her romantic and historical novels. She became famous for her novel The Thorn Birds in 1977. It became an international best seller with sales of over 30 million copies worldwide. In 1983this story was turned into a well-known TV series, one of the most-watched television miniseries of all time.

McCullough was born in Wellington. Her father was of Irish descent and her mother was a New Zealander of part-Māori descent. During her childhood she was also "a voracious reader".

She worked as a teacher, librarian and journalist while she studied medicine at the University of Sydney. She worked as a neurologist at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney.

McCullough’s other novels include Morgan’s Run (2000), about an 18th-century convict sent to Australia; The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (2008), which is about the later life of a character from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813); and the romantic Bittersweet (2013).

She is one of the most read writers in the world.

ANA FILLAT – English for Fun 3A