Mary O’Hara is an award-winning multi-platform journalist, author, editor and producer with a special focus on social policy, poverty, stigma, disability rights and inequality. With deep experience spanning print, digital, audio, film and books, she has a proven track record for exceptional research and high-impact reporting. Mary has published hundreds of articles, including in The Guardian, where she was on staff for 10 years and later a columnist, Byline Times, Mosaic Science, The New Statesman, Salon, Community Living Magazine and View Digital.
She is the author of three acclaimed non-fiction books: ‘Austerity Bites: 10 Years On’ (2024, Policy Press), The Shame Game: Overturning the toxic poverty narrative (2020) & Austerity Bites: A journey to the sharp end of cuts in the UK (2014), and has contributed to many others, including Vulnerable Consumers and the Law (2021 Routledge).
Her journalism has been recognised with multiple international awards, most recently for Best Feature by a Foreign Correspondent at The Southern California Journalism Awards. In 2009 she was awarded a prestigious Alistair Cooke Fulbright Scholar at UC Berkeley where she conducted comparative research on media depictions of mental illness.
As an audio producer, Mary has worked on trailblazing podcasts such as Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness. She has guested on numerous podcasts, television and radio shows, and guest lectured at multiple universities. As a media consultant she has worked with clients including Samaritans UK and Ireland and The European Social Network. For four years she was a Special Rapporteur on Disability for The European Commission.
Mary is also founder of the anti-poverty storytelling initiative, Project Twist-It, chair of The David Nobbs Memorial Trust, a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, London and is a member of the Society of Authors.
Maryoharaproductions.com