A WRITER’S LIFE By Andrea Louise Thomas Photos Yanni
N
estled among the gum trees on a bush block in Red Hill resides an award-winning writer of international repute. Wendy Orr is best known for her book Nim’s Island, which was made into a film in 2008. It’s sequel, Return to Nim’s Island based on her book Nim at Sea was also made into a film (2013), but she has written more than fifty books for children and young adults since she began her writing career in 1986. Writers tend to have common threads that weave through their work. Those threads often mirror the writer’s own life. In Orr’s work, bravery, resilience, determination and self-acceptance are recurring themes. Her novels feature strong female characters that overcome obstacles and persevere through often harrowing circumstances,
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not only to prevail, but also to thrive. Whilst now living a quiet existence as a full-time writer, life was not always quiet for Orr. Her father was in the Canadian Air Force, which meant the family moved every few years. By the time she finished high school she had been to ten schools on two continents. She was born in Edmonton, Alberta, but between the ages of three and seven she was living in a small village in France learning to read and write in French though English was always spoken at home. It was not until she learned to read and write in English that she started writing stories. “It was the power of the language that we spoke at home,” that inspired her she says.
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