Tributes are flowing for author and academic Gabrielle Carey, who has died, aged 64.
Dr Carey was just a teenager when she co-authored the seminal novel Puberty Blues, which was later published in 1979.
The novel caused quite the stir with its raw depiction of teenagers and adolescent sex.
However, while it was controversial among adults, teenagers lauded its authenticity and it continues to be a key and important book in the Australian literary landscape.
A film based on the novel was released in 1981.
Co-author Kathy Lette led the tributes to Dr Carey, posting that she was "deeply saddened by the tragic news" and how the two "made some mischief and broke some barriers" by writing Puberty Blues.
Dr Carey wrote 10 books, including her most recent — Only Happiness Here: In Search of Elizabeth von Arnim — which was published in 2020, and Falling Out of Love with Ivan Southall (2018).
Her 2013 book, Moving Among Strangers: Randolph Stow and My Family, jointly won the 2014 Prime Minister's Award for Non-Fiction and was shortlisted for the National Biography Award.
Her book In My Father's House was about her late dad, prominent writer Alex Carey.
Dr Carey recently wrote an article in the Sydney Morning Herald about her struggles with depression saying: "It was only decades later, when my father died from suicide on the very day he turned 64, that I became terrified of that number. If I have inherited my father's disposition for depression, did that mean I would also end up in an early grave?"
Dr Carey's literary agent, Jane Novak, provided this statement to the ABC.
"Gabrielle Carey was one of Australia's greatest writers and her skill as a memoirist and biographer is particularly notable.
"But it was her unflinching examination of the human condition and her emotional honesty that I loved her for.
"That, and her formidable intellect and her wonderful sparkling and spiky personality. This is a terrible, terrible loss."
Gabrielle Carey fostered the next generation of writers
Dr Carey not only wrote her own books, but she paid it forward by fostering the next generation of writers, including myself.
She oversaw the work of countless students through her role as a senior lecturer in creative writing at the University of Technology Sydney, where most of the staff are authors in their own right.
Dr Carey was my supervisor for a subject during which I wrote sections of what would become my memoir, Hip Hop & Hymns, published by Penguin Random House last year.
John Dale is an author and was head of creative writing at UTS for many years and met Dr Carey more than two decades ago, when he found some casual teaching shifts for her in 2001, before she became a permanent staff member.
"We got on really well," Professor Dale told the ABC.
"She was funny, she was lively, she was witty, she was creative, she was a lovely colleague — one of the best I've ever worked with. And I'll really miss her."
Professor Dale said Dr Carey had an impact on many up-and-coming writers and coordinated the UTS Anthology.
"She was really a mentor for younger writers," he said.
"They saw what she'd done over many years, publishing very early with Puberty Blues and she evolved as a writer too. She was a really good writer.
"But I think what was most important about her, to me, is she was just such great company. She had a very strong presence … just a lovely woman."
Dr Carey is survived by two children.
