Bree O'Mara

Bree O'Mara
BornBridgid O'Mara
(1968-07-04)4 July 1968
Durban, Natal Province, South Africa
Died12 May 2010(2010-05-12) (aged 41)
Tripoli, Libya
OccupationNovelist
NationalitySouth African
GenreFantasy
Drama
Romantic
Notable worksNigel Watson, Superhero
Home Affairs

Bridgid "Bree" O'Mara (4 July 1968 – 12 May 2010) was an Irish-South African novelist, ballet dancer, TV producer and air hostess who was killed in the crash of Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771.[1]

Biography

Early life

O'Mara was born in Durban, Natal Province, South Africa of Irish parentage and carried an Irish passport.[2] She attended the Maris Stella School in Durban during the early 1980s.[3] After an early career in theater O'Mara worked as a flight attendant for Gulf Air, before becoming a video producer in the Gulf States. After travelling through Canada and the United States, living briefly in Elkins, West Virginia, she settled in London during the 1990s.[4] She was living in Northamptonshire in the early 2000s. In 2003 she worked as a volunteer for Mondo Challenge in Tanzania. She returned to her childhood home of South Africa in 2005.[citation needed]

Personal life

At the time of her death, she lived in Kosmos, Madibeng, with her husband Christopher Leach.[5] British mercenary Mike Hoare was her uncle. She wrote an unpublished account of his adventures as a mercenary in the Congo during the 1960s and the Seychelles in the 1970s.[2]

Death

She was travelling on Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771, which crashed in Libya, on her way to visit London for a meeting with publishers.[6] She had previously been forced to abandon a scheduled appearance at the London Book Fair by the cancellation of flights to the UK resulting from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption.[7]

Works

  • Home Affairs (2007) (winner of the Citizen Book Prize)[8]
  • Nigel Watson, Superhero (scheduled for publication in 2010)[9]

Awards

References

  1. ^ Book SA – News Archived 2010-05-27 at archive.today
  2. ^ a b "Irish author Bree O'Mara among 103 dead in Libya jet crash". The Irish Times. 14 May 2010.
  3. ^ "Boy survived this (part 1)". Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Lone survivor shouts 'Holland, Holland'", Independent Online, 13 May 2010[dead link‍]
  5. ^ "Business Day". Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  6. ^ 11 With links to SA killed in crash[permanent dead link‍]
  7. ^ London Book Fair – Speakers Archived May 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "BBC News - South Africa author Bree O'Mara dies in Libya crash". 13 May 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  9. ^ Kennedy, Maev (13 May 2010). "Irish author Bree O'Mara killed in Libya plane crash". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  10. ^ Jane L. "Book Launch: Home Affairs by Bree O’Mara Archived 2010-12-01 at the Wayback Machine", 30degreessouth, 30 January 2008, Retrieved 13 May 2010