Desmond M O'Grady was an Australian journalist, author, and playwright who resided and worked in Rome from 1962.
14 Facts About Desmond O'Grady
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Desmond O'Grady's father worked for the Australian Navy, and from 1940 he attended the Marist Brothers where his father was transferred to take charge of the naval stores at Garden Island Naval Base there.
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Desmond O'Grady returned to complete elementary school at the Christian Brothers in St Kilda, Melbourne where he finished his secondary education.
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Desmond O'Grady has won amateur tennis tournaments both in singles and doubles and as an Australian schoolboy was a champion middle distance runner.
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Desmond O'Grady taught English Literature and History at the secondary level in Victoria until he sailed for Europe in 1955.
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Desmond O'Grady took his diploma in Italian from the University for Foreigners in Perugia, Italy.
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Desmond O'Grady previously had short stories and articles published and a play of his staged in Melbourne when, in 1957, he started working as a journalist in Sydney.
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Desmond O'Grady's first child, Kieran Gregory O'Grady, was born in Melbourne in 1958.
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Desmond O'Grady's second child, Donatella O'Grady, was born in Rome in 1964 after he had again returned to that city.
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Desmond O'Grady wrote about the Council for publications world-wide becoming the first Vatican correspondent for the USA's National Catholic Reporter when it was founded.
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Desmond O'Grady covered Vatican affairs for the National Catholic Reporter, The Washington Post, for Our Sunday Visitor and for the English Tablet.
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Desmond O'Grady has for his entire career written about Italian affairs ranging from politics to culture and travel, mainly for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and other publications.
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Desmond O'Grady wrote 14 published books of fiction and non-fiction, including novels, collections of short stories, history and biography; many of these have been translated into various languages.
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Desmond O'Grady wrote from Italy for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and The Age and other publications.