Steven O'Connor is a young adult fiction novelist, born in England and living in Australia, whose book EleMental was published by Murdoch Books/Pier 9 in June 2010 and launched at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival by Pat McGorry

Patrick McGorry

Patrick Dennistoun McGorry FRCP FASSA FRANZCP AO PhD MD is an Australian psychiatrist, best known for his development of the early intervention services for youth....

, the then Australian of the Year.

Bookseller and Publisher (June 2010) described EleMental as ‘Philip K Dick for teenagers’, saying ‘O’Connor explores some fairly complex and sophisticated issues in a thrilling and accessible way’.

EleMental is about three teenagers in 2050 struggling with videogame addiction and their subsequent confusion of reality and virtuality.

Biography

Steven O’Connor migrated to Australia from Luton, England as a teenager. He has worked as a social worker in the fields of drug addiction and HIV/AIDS and currently works in school-based health promotion. Themes related to addiction and infectious diseases are present in EleMental, as well as mental health and violence against women.

Commendations

• Varuna Young Adult Fiction Master Class 2003 (mentorship for EleMental manuscript).

External links

• Steven O’Connor’s official home page.