She came second in the state in the 1990 New South Wales Higher School Certificate, distinguishing herself in mathematics, modern history, agriculture and English.
[1] Initially studying arts/law at university, her academic interests began to focus on literary culture.
She gained her PhD at the University of Sydney with a doctoral thesis on the poetics of Lyn Hejinian.
[3] Fagan comes from a family of folk singers and was strongly influenced by traditional ballads.
[8] Fagan is married to fellow Australian poet Peter Minter and they have two children.