Wendy Orr

Biography:
Wendy Orr was born in 1953 in Edmonton, Alberta. She has moved many times in the course of her life, since her father was in the Canadian Air Force, to places such as France, Red Deer, London, and of course Australia.

She has 2 children, James and Susan who are both at university in Melbourne, and a husband named Tom whom she met at a Youth Hostel in Australia. She lives with her family in Victoria's Mornington, Peninsula.

She studied Occupational Therapy for 3 years in London, England and worked in Albury, New South Wales visiting people at home after they came out of the hospital after illness or accident. She began to work more with children later.

She was a dairy farmer for nearly 20 years in northeast Victoria. In 1999 they sold the farm and moved to their current home where she and her husband are trying to restore their few acres of brush to its natural state.

Why she became a writer:
Wendy always wanted to be a writer. As a child in school she wrote stories and poetry constantly. In 1986 she started writing seriously again that same year she wrote Amanda's Dinosaur, she has been writing ever since. She writes because in her opinion it's the best way to explore ideas and find out what life's about.

Types of books:
Many of her books have been fiction based on personal experience such as: Yasou Nikki, Ark in the Park, Leaving it to You and Peeling the Onion. Others have been written purely from imagination such as The House on Evelyn's Pond and Amanda's Dinosaur.

Achievements/Awards:
Ark in the Park won Book of the Year in the 1995 Australian Children's Book Council Awards in the Young Readers Category. Nim's Island has been nominated for a children's choice of the state award in Maine 2002/2003. It was named on the LA Times Best Books of 2001 list. Peeling the Onion is an honor book in the Australian CBC Awards in the Older Reader Category.

Sources:
http://www.golvanarts.com.au/orr.html,
http://www.wendyorr.com/bio.html,
http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowAgent&agentId=A(-A
Photo: http://www.golvanarts.com.au/orr.gif