Colleen McCullough

Colleen McCullough was born in Australia in 1937. She studied neurophysiology, founded the neurophysiology department at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, and worked for ten years as a researcher and professor at Yale Medical School. Her writing career began in 1974 with the publication of "Tim," her first book. This was followed by the acclaimed "The Thorn Birds" in 1977, a novel that became an international bestseller in over twenty languages, setting sales records. The author of fourteen more books, she also wrote lyrics for musical theater. Multitalented and with diverse interests, she was involved in painting, cartography, architectural design, astronomy, and music. For her contributions to science, historical research, and literature, she was honored with numerous awards (among others, she was named one of Australia's "Living National Treasures") and was a member of the New York Academy of Sciences. She passed away on January 29, 2015, at the age of 77, in a hospital on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific where she lived.