Emily travelled to Sydney, Australia to attend the annual conference of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) and receive the 2019 Mogens Schou Award for Public Service and Advocacy in recognition of her work promoting music for mental health.  The awards ceremony took place during a dinner cruise in Sydney Harbour where Emily and her partner Christian Dunham performed for the 180 guests attending.  The audience was made up of leading healthcare professionals in the field of psychiatry from around the world.  The photo is of Emily with renowned American psychiatrist Robert Post and mental health advocate Marylou Selo.

Emily was chosen by renowned Swiss photographer Matthieu Zellweger to feature as part of his photography project capturing the highs and lows of bipolar disorder.  He came to the UK to photograph her and included her in his new book ‘ Worlds Beyond’.  This work is featured on the first page of Lens Blog, the highly-regarded photojournalism blog of The New York Times.

After a busy 2018 on the road, Emily is taking some time out from touring as she has just relocated with her husband Christian to Australia.  They will be doing gigs in Australia later this year and touring the UK again in 2020.  If you want to know when and where you can see Emily play, please join her email list.

You can follow the story of Emily’s life in the Australian bush on her blog, on Facebook and on Instagram.

New blog post today from the Australian bush… follow Emily’s story here on her website and her Instagram feed.

Emily’s CDs and books from Shaktu Records are now only available to order through her website and not on Amazon (while she is away in Australia).  There may be other merchants on Amazon you can order from.  Orders made through the website will be dispatched from the UK.  You can browse the website shop here.  All Emily’s songs are available to download from iTunes – links can be found under ‘albums’ on the website.  You can also stream Emily’s songs on Spotify.

Emily’s UK tour of bookshops and Buddhist centres to celebrate the publication of her book ‘Meditation Mind’ came to end last night with a fabulous gig at the Sakya Buddhist Centre in Bristol.  You can read her new blog and see photos of the gig on Facebook.

Emily’s CDs and books are available to order from Amazon.co.uk up until Christmas, after which they will only be available to order through her website.  Emily and Christian are now packing up their flat in Bath ready for the move back to the Australian bush at the end of January.  You can keep in touch with Emily while she is away by joining her mailing list and follow her on Instagram.

Emily’s interview and live performance on ‘Front Row’ last Wednesday was featured again on Radio 4’s ‘Pick Of The Week’ today.  Said presenter Anna Foster, “There’s a lot to be said for radio so good that you’re desperate to hear it again.  This week’s ‘Front Row’ managed exactly that and the ‘Pick Of The Week’ inbox steadily filled with emails requesting a repeat appearance from the singer-songwriter Emily Maguire…” You can listen here (scroll to 13:45). The song Emily sang was ‘Start Over Again’ from her album ‘Believer‘.

Emily and Christian are moving back to Australia to the goat farm in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland where they used to live.  Their shack of tree trunks and potato sacks is now a wooden house and they will be making Emily’s next album there before returning to tour the UK again in 2020.  If you want Emily to keep you in touch and let you know when she is coming back, please join her mailing list.

Emily was interviewed and performed her song ‘Start Over Again’ (from her album ‘Believer‘) live on ‘Front Row’ on BBC Radio 4 last night.  You can listen again here (scroll to 19:58).  Book tickets for Emily’s poetry & song tour which starts tonight.

The International Society For Bipolar Disorder (ISBD) has awarded Emily the 2019 Mogens Schou Award For Public Service and Advocacy for her work in mental health.  Since publishing her autobiographical book ‘Start Over Again’ back in 2010, Emily has done many gigs for mental health hospitals and groups across the UK and been interviewed many times on BBC Radio talking about her own lived experience in the hope of combating the stigma of mental illness.

The ISBD says, “The ISBD Awards committee seeks to identify candidates for the Mogens Schou Award whose contributions, commitment and passion honor the legacy of Prof. Schou. We first became aware of your music and background through Ms. Marylou Selo, a past recipient of this Award, and after visiting your website, learning more about how your lived experience of bipolar disorder informs your art, and how you have made a point to leverage that to provide hope for those living with mental illness, it is clear that you embody the spirit of the Mogens Schou Award for Public Service and Advocacy.”

Emily will travel to the ISBD annual conference in Sydney, Australia in March to collect her award.  For more information about Emily’s work in mental health and her campaign to promote music for mental health, please visit www.musicformentalhealth.net.