O. R. Melling: Difference between revisions

O. R. Melling
O. R. Melling
Born	Geraldine Valerie Whelan; 2 December 1952 (age 71); Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland
Occupation	Novelist
Alma mater	University of Toronto
Genre	Fantasy literature
Notable awards	Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award;
Children	1
Website
	ormelling.com

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Geraldine Valerie Whelan (born 2 December 1952), known by the pen name O. R. Melling, is a writer of fantasy novels, mostly for children and young adults. Melling's novels focus on Irish and Celtic folklore. She writes reviews and film scripts as G. V. Whelan.^[3] She is sometimes published as Orla Melling.^[4]

Early life and education

Melling was born in Ireland, but moved with her family to Toronto, Ontario when she was four.^[2] Her father was a musician and she had nine brothers and sisters.^[5]

Melling was educated at Loretto College School in Toronto.^[6] She studied philosophy, Celtic Studies and mediaeval history at Trinity College, University of Toronto.^[2]

Career

Melling has said that she started writing after dropping out of studying law: "Writing gave me the excuse I needed to leave my law studies".^[4]

Melling has been awarded the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award for The Druid's Tale, and the Ruth Schwartz Award for Children's Literature.^[7]^[3] The Druid's Tale has been translated into Czech and Japanese.^[8]

Her influences include Patricia Lynch.^[2]^[8]

Melling has also worked as a teacher of Irish dance and been an officer in the Royal Canadian Navy.^[9]

Critical response

The critic Ciara Ní Bhroin has described Melling's novels as "weaving ... modern Canadian protagonists into ancient myth". She identifies a "nostalgic, regressive strain" in The Druid's Tale, and writes that "Melling both confirms and denies traditional portrayals of Ireland and the feminine". Ní Bhroin positions Melling's work within Anglo-Irish literature.^[2]

Personal life

Melling lives in Bray, County Wicklow. She has a daughter.^[3]

Books

Melling, O.R. (1983). The Druid's Tune. Amulet. ISBN 9780143016748.
— (1986). The Singing Stone. Amulet. ISBN 9780143016670.
— (1989). Falling Out of Time. Ontario: Viking, Markham. ISBN 9780670814213.
The Chronicles of Faerie series (1993–2003)
- — (1993). The Hunter's Moon. Amulet Books. ISBN 9781435274303.
- — (1999). The Summer King. Amulet. ISBN 978-0-616-14663-7.
- — (2001). The Light-Bearer's Daughter. Amulet. ISBN 9780141309927.
- — (2003). The Book of Dreams. Amulet. ISBN 9780810984189.
— (1996). My Blue Country. Toronto: CNIB. ISBN 9780616753682.
— (2013). People of the Great Journey. Hay House. ISBN 9781781802076.

References

^ ^a ^b "Melling, O.R.". Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. University of Toronto Press. 2002. p. 736 – via Internet Archive.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Ní Bhroin, Ciara (2022). "Recovery of Origins: Myths of Homeland and Return in the Fantasy Fiction of O.R. Melling". Discourses of Home and Homeland in Irish Children's Fiction 1990-2012. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 72. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-73395-7_3. ISBN 978-3-030-73397-1. OCLC 1328020005. S2CID 236707691.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Award-winning Orla writes about a world of fantasy". Irish Independent. 13 July 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
^ ^a ^b "World travels led on to writing children's books". Bray People. 12 June 1992. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
^ Whelan, G. V. (19 October 1995). "Salute to a popular Bray jazz musician". Bray People. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
^ "Alumna Spotlight, Geraldine Valerie Whelan, LCS 1970". Loretto Alumnae Association. 15 September 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
^ Ketterer, D. (1992). Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy. Indiana University Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-253-33122-9. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
^ ^a ^b Savage, Anne (29 October 1998). "Orla meets pupils of St. Pat's". Bray People. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
^ "Author Orla found her inspiration in Bray". Bray People. 22 October 1993. Retrieved 3 July 2023.

External links

Official website
Biography at Mythic Imagination Institute (mythicjourneys.org)
O. R. Melling at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
O. R. Melling at Library of Congress, with 7 library catalogue records
Alumna Spotlight, Geraldine Valerie Whelan, LCS 1970

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[ELC2002-1] "Melling, O.R.". Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. University of Toronto Press. 2002. p. 736 – via Internet Archive.

[Bhroin_2021-2] Ní Bhroin, Ciara (2022). "Recovery of Origins: Myths of Homeland and Return in the Fantasy Fiction of O.R. Melling". Discourses of Home and Homeland in Irish Children's Fiction 1990-2012. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 72. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-73395-7_3. ISBN 978-3-030-73397-1. OCLC 1328020005. S2CID 236707691.

[Indep_2006-3] "Award-winning Orla writes about a world of fantasy". Irish Independent. 13 July 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2023.

[BP_1992-4] "World travels led on to writing children's books". Bray People. 12 June 1992. Retrieved 3 July 2023.

[BP_1995_Whelan-5] Whelan, G. V. (19 October 1995). "Salute to a popular Bray jazz musician". Bray People. Retrieved 3 July 2023.

[Loretto-6] "Alumna Spotlight, Geraldine Valerie Whelan, LCS 1970". Loretto Alumnae Association. 15 September 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2023.

[Ketterer_1992_p._65-7] Ketterer, D. (1992). Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy. Indiana University Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-253-33122-9. Retrieved 3 July 2023.

[BP_1998-8] Savage, Anne (29 October 1998). "Orla meets pupils of St. Pat's". Bray People. Retrieved 3 July 2023.

[BP_1993-9] "Author Orla found her inspiration in Bray". Bray People. 22 October 1993. Retrieved 3 July 2023.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Irish-Canadian writer (born 1952)}}
+{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
 {{Infobox writer
 | embed            =
@@ Line 12: / Line 14: @@
 | native_name_lang =
 | pseudonym        =
+| birth_name       = Geraldine Valerie Whelan<ref name="ELC2002"/>
-| birth_name       = Geraldine Whelan<ref name="Ketterer 1992 p. 65">{{cite book | last=Ketterer | first=D. | title=Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy | publisher=Indiana University Press | year=1992 | isbn=978-0-253-33122-9 | url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zvARp4yM1sUC&pg=PA65 | access-date=3 Jul 2023 | page=65}}</ref><ref name="Bhroin 2021">{{cite book | last=Bhroin | first=C.N. | title=Discourses of Home and Homeland in Irish Children’s Fiction 1990-2012: Writing Home | publisher=Springer International Publishing | series=Critical Approaches to Children's Literature | year=2021 | isbn=978-3-030-73395-7 | url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NbUvEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA72 | access-date=3 Jul 2023 | page=72}}</ref>
+| birth_date       = {{Birth date and age|1952|12|02|df=yes}}<ref name="ELC2002">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofli0000unse/page/736/mode/2up|title=Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada|year=2002|publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]]|page=736|via=[[Internet Archive]]|section=Melling, O.R.}}</ref>
-| birth_date       = {{Birth year and age|1951}}<ref name="Bhroin 2021"/>
+| birth_place      = [[Bray, County Wicklow]], Ireland<ref name="Bhroin 2021">{{cite book |last1=Ní Bhroin |first1=Ciara |title=Discourses of Home and Homeland in Irish Children's Fiction 1990-2012 |date=2022 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Basingstoke |isbn=978-3-030-73397-1 |page=72 |chapter=Recovery of Origins: Myths of Homeland and Return in the Fantasy Fiction of O.R. Melling|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-73395-7_3|s2cid=236707691 |oclc=1328020005}}</ref>
-| birth_place      = [[Bray, County Wicklow]], Ireland<ref name="Bhroin 2021"/>
 | death_date       = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) -->
 | death_place      =
@@ Line 23: / Line 25: @@
 | citizenship      = <!-- use only when necessary per [[WP:INFONAT]] -->
 | education        =
-| alma_mater       = [[University of Toronto]]<ref name="Bhroin 2021"/>
+| alma_mater       = [[University of Toronto]]
 | period           =
 | genre            = [[Fantasy literature]]
@@ Line 31: / Line 33: @@
 | spouse           = <!-- or: | spouses = -->
 | partner          = <!-- or: | partners = -->
+| children         = 1
-| children         = 1<ref name="Indep_2006">{{cite news |title=Award-winning Orla writes about a world of fantasy |url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wicklow/bray-news/award-winning-orla-writes-about-a-world-of-fantasy/27617547.html |access-date=3 July 2023 |work=Independent.ie |date=13 July 2006}}</ref>
 | relatives        =
-| awards           = [[Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award]]<ref name="Ketterer 1992 p. 65"/><br>[[Ontario Arts Foundation|Ruth Schwartz Award for Children's Literature]]<ref name="Indep_2006"/>
+| awards           = {{ubl|[[Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award]]}}
 | signature        =
 | signature_alt    =
@@ Line 40: / Line 42: @@
 | years_active     =
 | module           =
-| website          = {{URL|ormelling.com}}
+| website          = {{URL|https://ormelling.com}}
 | portaldisp       = <!-- "on", "yes", "true", etc.; or omit -->
 }}
-{{Short description|Canadian writer}}
-{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2013}}
-'''O. R. Melling''', born '''G. V. Whelan''', (born 1951), is a writer of [[fantasy literature|fantasy novels]], mostly for children and young adults. Melling's novels focus on Irish and [[Celt]]ic [[folklore]]. She writes reviews and film scripts as G. V Whelan.<ref name="Indep_2006"/> She is sometimes published as '''Orla Melling'''.<ref name="BP_1992">{{cite news |title=World travels led on to writing children's books |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002342/19920612/252/0029 |access-date=3 July 2023 |work=Bray People |date=12 June 1992}}</ref>
+'''Geraldine Valerie Whelan''' (born 2 December 1952), known by the [[pen name]] '''O. R. Melling''', is a writer of [[fantasy literature|fantasy novels]], mostly for children and young adults. Melling's novels focus on Irish and [[Celt]]ic [[folklore]]. She writes reviews and film scripts as '''G. V. Whelan'''.<ref name="Indep_2006"/> She is sometimes published as '''Orla Melling'''.<ref name="BP_1992">{{cite news |title=World travels led on to writing children's books |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002342/19920612/252/0029 |access-date=3 July 2023 |work=Bray People |date=12 June 1992}}</ref>
 ==Early life and education==
@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 Melling has said that she started writing after dropping out of studying law: "Writing gave me the excuse I needed to leave my law studies".<ref name="BP_1992"/>
-Melling has been awarded the [[Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award]] for ''The Druid's Tale'',  and the [[Ontario Arts Foundation|Ruth Schwartz Award for Children's Literature]].<ref name="Ketterer 1992 p. 65"/><ref name="Indep_2006"/> ''The Druid's Tale'' has been translated into Czech and Japanese.<ref name="BP_1998">{{cite news |last1=Savage |first1=Anne |title=Orla meets pupils of St. Pat's |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002342/19981029/072/0011 |access-date=3 July 2023 |work=Bray People |date=29 October 1998}}</ref>
+Melling has been awarded the [[Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award]] for ''The Druid's Tale'', and the [[Ontario Arts Foundation|Ruth Schwartz Award for Children's Literature]].<ref name="Ketterer 1992 p. 65">{{cite book | last=Ketterer | first=D. | title=Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy | publisher=Indiana University Press | year=1992 | isbn=978-0-253-33122-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zvARp4yM1sUC&pg=PA65 | access-date=3 July 2023 | page=65}}</ref><ref name="Indep_2006"/> ''The Druid's Tale'' has been translated into Czech and Japanese.<ref name="BP_1998">{{cite news |last1=Savage |first1=Anne |title=Orla meets pupils of St. Pat's |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002342/19981029/072/0011 |access-date=3 July 2023 |work=Bray People |date=29 October 1998}}</ref>
 Her influences include [[Patricia Lynch]].<ref name="Bhroin 2021"/><ref name="BP_1998"/>
@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 ==Critical response==
-The critic [[Ciara Ní Bhroin]] has described Melling's novels as "weaving ... modern Canadian protagonists into ancient myth".<ref name="Bhroin 2021"/> She identifies a "nostalgic, regressive strain" in ''The Druid's Tale'', and writes that "Melling both confirms and denies traditional portrayals of Ireland and the feminine".<ref name="Bhroin 2021"/> Ní Bhroin positions Melling's work within [[Irish literature#The Anglo-Irish tradition (2)|Anglo-Irish literature]].<ref name="Bhroin 2021"/>
+The critic [[Ciara Ní Bhroin]] has described Melling's novels as "weaving ... modern Canadian protagonists into ancient myth". She identifies a "nostalgic, regressive strain" in ''The Druid's Tale'', and writes that "Melling both confirms and denies traditional portrayals of Ireland and the feminine". Ní Bhroin positions Melling's work within [[Irish literature#The Anglo-Irish tradition (2)|Anglo-Irish literature]].<ref name="Bhroin 2021"/>
 ==Personal life==
-Melling lives in [[Bray, County Wicklow]].<ref name="Indep_2006"/> She has a daughter.<ref name="Indep_2006"/>
+Melling lives in [[Bray, County Wicklow]]. She has a daughter.<ref name="Indep_2006">{{cite news |title=Award-winning Orla writes about a world of fantasy |url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wicklow/bray-news/award-winning-orla-writes-about-a-world-of-fantasy/27617547.html |access-date=3 July 2023 |work=Irish Independent |date=13 July 2006}}</ref>
 ==Books==
+*{{cite book |last1=Melling |first1=O.R. |title=The Druid's Tune |date=1983 |publisher=Amulet |isbn=9780143016748|ref=none}}
-* ''[[The Chronicles of Faerie]]'' series <!-- http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?22277 [[Chronicles of Faerie]] perhaps neither worth linking -->
+*{{cite book |last1=Melling |first1=O.R. |title=[[The Singing Stone]] |date=1986 |publisher=Amulet |isbn=9780143016670|author-mask=1|ref=none}}
-** ''[[The Hunter's Moon (novel)|The Hunter's Moon]]'' (1993)
+*{{cite book |last1=Melling |first1=O.R. |title=Falling Out of Time |date=1989 |publisher=Viking, Markham |location=Ontario |isbn=9780670814213|author-mask=1|ref=none}}
-** ''[[The Summer King (O. R. Melling novel)|The Summer King]]'' (Amulet, 2006)
+* ''[[The Chronicles of Faerie]]'' series (1993–2003)<!-- http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?22277 [[Chronicles of Faerie]] perhaps neither worth linking -->
-** ''[[The Light-Bearer's Daughter]]'' (Amulet, 2007)
+**{{cite book |last1=Melling |first1=O.R. |title=[[The Hunter's Moon (novel)|The Hunter's Moon]] |date=1993 |publisher=Amulet Books |isbn=9781435274303 |language=en|author-mask=1|ref=none}}
-** ''The Book of Dreams'' (Amulet, 2009)
+**{{cite book |last1=Melling |first1=O.R. |title=[[The Summer King (novel)|The Summer King]] |date=1999 |publisher=Amulet |isbn=978-0-616-14663-7|author-mask=1|ref=none}}
-** ''The Chronicles of Faerie'', 2002 omnibus edition (3 vols.)
+**{{cite book |last1=Melling |first1=O.R. |title=[[The Light-Bearer's Daughter]] |date=2001 |publisher=Amulet |isbn=9780141309927|author-mask=1|ref=none}}
-** ''The Golden Book of Faerie'', 2004 omnibus edition (4 vols.)
+**{{cite book |last1=Melling |first1=O.R. |title=[[The Book of Dreams (Melling novel)|The Book of Dreams]] |date=2003 |publisher=Amulet |isbn=9780810984189|author-mask=1|ref=none}}
+*{{cite book |last1=Melling |first1=O.R. |title=My Blue Country |date=1996 |publisher=CNIB |location=Toronto |isbn=9780616753682|author-mask=1|ref=none}}
-* ''[[The Singing Stone]]'' (1986)
+*{{cite book |last1=Melling |first1=O.R. |title=People of the Great Journey |date=2013 |publisher=Hay House |isbn=9781781802076|author-mask=1|ref=none}}
-* ''The Druid's Tune'' (1983)
-* ''My Blue Country'' (Toronto: Viking, 1996), {{OCLC|35936230}}
-* ''Falling Out of Time''  (1989)
-* ''People of the Great Journey: would you go if you were called?'', {{OCLC| 	857524886}}
 == References ==
 {{reflist}}
-==Further reading==
-*{{cite book |last1=Ní Bhroin |first1=Ciara |title=Discourses of Home and Homeland in Irish Children’s Fiction 1990-2012 |date=2022 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Basingstoke |isbn=978-3-030-73397-1 |pages=71–101 |chapter=Recovery of Origins: Myths of Homeland and Return in the Fantasy Fiction of O.R. Melling|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-73395-7_3|oclc=1328020005}}
 ==External links==
@@ Line 95: / Line 89: @@
 * {{official website |ormelling.com}}
 * [http://www.mythicjourneys.org/guest_melling.html Biography] at Mythic Imagination Institute (mythicjourneys.org)
-* {{isfdb name|5223}}
+* {{ISFDB name|5223}}
 * {{LCAuth|n84127736|O. R. Melling|7|ue}}
 * [https://lorettoalumnae.ca/alumna-spotlight-geraldine-valerie-whelan-lcs-1970 Alumna Spotlight, Geraldine Valerie Whelan, LCS 1970]
@@ Line 102: / Line 96: @@
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Melling, O. R.}}
+[[Category:Living people]]
+[[Category:1952 births]]
 [[Category:Canadian fantasy writers]]
 [[Category:Canadian women novelists]]
@@ Line 108: / Line 104: @@
 [[Category:People from Bray, County Wicklow]]
 [[Category:Women science fiction and fantasy writers]]
-[[Category:Living people]]
-[[Category:1951 births]]
 [[Category:Writers from County Wicklow]]

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