Mary O’Hara

International Columnist of the Year 2020: Southern California Journalism Awards

International Columnist of the Year 2020: Southern California Journalism Awards

Mary O’Hara is an award-winning journalist, producer and author specialising in social policy and social justice. She freelances across a number of publications and platforms including The Guardian. Most recently she was named International Columnist of the Year in 2020, 2018 and 2017 by the Southern California Journalism Awards for her Guardian column, Lesson From America. She is the producer and director of the documentary short, Beyond the Railings and is also an executive producer on the podcast Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness. She is the founder of the anti-poverty initiative, Project Twist-It.

Mary is the author of the bestselling book Austerity Bites: A Journey to the Sharp End of Cuts in the UK and a contributor to the book, The Violence of Austerity and has written the foreword to others including Council Skies by the artist, Pete McKee.

In 2019 Mary was an Alistair Cooke Fulbright Scholar at UC Berkeley. She is on the board of the charity, Arts Emergency and is the founder and chair of the David Nobbs Memorial Trust.

Follow her on Twitter @maryohara1 | Mary’s website is maryoharawriter.eu


Austerity Bites

Find out more about Mary’s book Austerity Bites >

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This book is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the great human cost of austerity. Read it, get angry and get active.
— Josie Long, writer, activist and comedian – on Austerity Bites
Austerity Bites should be required reading for every MP, peer, councillor, civil servant and commentator. The fury and sense of powerlessness that so many people feel at government policy beam out of every page.
— Melissa Benn, The Guardian

More of Mary’s work

Read > Mary’s writing for the Guardian at – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/maryohara

Read > Mary’s foreword for Pete McKee's book Council Skies – https://www.petemckee.com/news/petes-new-book-council-skies

Read > Mary’s opening chapter for the book, The Violence of Austerity –https://www.plutobooks.com/9781786800633/the-violence-of-austerity/