Gloria Whelan (born November 23, 1923) is an American poet, short story writer, and novelist known primarily for
children's
A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person young ...
and
young adult fiction
Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults.
The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...
.
[ She won the annual ]National Book Award for Young People's Literature
The National Book Award for Young People's Literature is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation (NBF) to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".< ...
in 2000 for the novel '' Homeless Bird''.[ She also won the 2013 Tuscany Prize for Catholic Fiction for her short story ''What World Is This?'' and the work became the title for the independent publisher's 2013 collection of short stories.
Whelan's books include many historical fiction novels, including a trilogy set on Mackinac Island and a quartet series set in communist Russia. Whelan is also the author of short stories which have appeared in ''The Ontario Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Gettysburg Review'', and other literary quarterlies. Her collection of short stories, ''Playing with Shadows'', was published by the Illinois Press. Her stories have appeared in several anthologies and in ''Prize Stories: the O. Henry Awards''. Whelan is, according to Liz Rosenberg in the ''Chicago Tribune'', "an accomplished, graceful, and intelligent writer."
]
Early life and education
Gloria was the daughter of William Rewoldt and Hildegarde Kilwinski Rewoldt, born 1923 in Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
. She read many books as a girl, sometimes dictated stories that her baby sitter transcribed, and wrote poetry. She edited the high school newspaper.[
She earned the ]bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in 1945 and the Master of Social Work
The Master of Social Work (MSW) is a master's degree in the field of social work. It is a professional degree with specializations compared to Bachelor of Social Work (BSW). MSW promotes macro-, mezzo- and micro-aspects of professional social work ...
in 1948 at the University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
.
Career
In 1948, she and neurologist
Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...
Joseph L. Whelan were married. They had two children and lived in the Detroit area where she was employed in social work.[ During that time she also wrote short stories and poetry.
The ]de Grummond Children's Literature Collection
The McCain Library and Archives is the chief reserve library for The University of Southern Mississippi. It houses the items in Southern Mississippi's possession that are not available for checkout. Besides being the archives, the building also h ...
at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg
Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County (where it is the county seat and largest city) and extending west into Lamar County. The city population was 45,989 at the 2010 census, with the populat ...
holds her papers. According to that archive:[
]In 1972, weary of the hectic pace of life in Detroit, the Whelans moved to a cabin on Oxbow Lake in the woods of northern Michigan, outside the small town of Mancelona. Their peace was soon disturbed, however, by an oil company that intended to drill on their property. Since the Whelans did not own the mineral rights
Mineral rights are property rights to exploit an area for the minerals it harbors. Mineral rights can be separate from property ownership (see Split estate). Mineral rights can refer to sedentary minerals that do not move below the Earth's surfac ...
to the land, the company razed three acres and sank an unsuccessful well, after which it departed. The experience inspired Whelan to write a children's novel about a young boy who worked on an oilrig. It was published as ''A Clearing in the Forest'' in 1978.
That was her first book.
Whelan was almost fifty-five when Putnam's
''Putnam's Monthly Magazine of American Literature, Science and Art'' was a monthly periodical published by G. P. Putnam's Sons featuring American literature and articles on science, art, and politics.
Series
The magazine had three incarnation ...
published ''A Clearing in the Forest'' in July 1978. In nearly thirty-five years since then, she has written fifty-two books of fiction for children and young adults
A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...
. Many have been set in rural northern Michigan, where she may be considered a regional author, but her settings include Africa, China, Vietnam, India, Czarist and communist Russia.[
'' Listening for Lions'' is set in 1919 ]British East Africa
East Africa Protectorate (also known as British East Africa) was an area in the African Great Lakes occupying roughly the same terrain as present-day Kenya from the Indian Ocean inland to the border with Uganda in the west. Controlled by Bri ...
(now in Kenya
)
, national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
...
).
Whelan also writes short stories and poetry for adults. Her stories have been published in numerous literary quarterlies and anthologies including "Prize Stories: O'Henry Awards. Illinois Press published a collection of her stories, "Playing with Shadows" In 2013 Wayne State University published a collection of stories and a novella, "Living Together," which Joyce Carol Oates called "elegantly composed," and Nicholas Delbanco called, "Pitch perfect," and "A pleasure to read."
Awards and honors
*1999: Tuscany Prize (Best Short Story) "What World Is This?"
*2003: National Outdoor Book Award
The National Outdoor Book Award (NOBA) was formed in 1997 as an American-based non-profit program which each year presents awards honoring the best in outdoor writing and publishing. It is housed at Idaho State University and chaired by Ron Watte ...
(Children's Category), ''Jam & Jelly by Holly & Nellie''
*2000: National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
(Young People's Literature), '' Homeless Bird''[
*2014: IPPY Silver Medal Short Story Fiction for "Living Together."
]
Works
*''Summer of the Tree Army'' (picture book) (2021)
*''Bob Seger's House and Other Stories / Made in Michigan Writers Series'' (adult book) collection by various authors (2016)
*''The Hedge School'' (2015)
*''Queen Victoria’s Bathing Machine''. Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
Nancy may refer to:
Places France
* Nancy, France, a city in the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle and formerly the capital of the duchy of Lorraine
** Arrondissement of Nancy, surrounding and including the city of Nancy
...
. Simon & Schuster, 2014.Amanda Hall
Amanda is a Latin feminine gerundive (i.e. verbal adjective) name meaning, literally, “she who must (or is fit to) be loved”. Other translations, with similar meaning, could be "deserving to be loved," "worthy of love," or "loved very much b ...
) (2013)
*''Smudge and the Book of Mistakes: A Christmas Story'' (picture book) (2012)
*''Small Acts of Amazing Courage'' (2011)
*''The Boy Who Wanted to Cook'' (picture book) (2011)
*''Megan’s Year / An Irish Traveler’s Story'' (picture book) (2011)
*''See What I See'' (2011)
*''The Listeners'' (2009)
*''Waiting for the Owl's Call'' (2009)
*''The Locked Garden'' (2009)
*''K is for Kabuki'' (2009)
*''After the Train'' (2009)
*''The Disappeared'' (2008)
*''Yuki and the One Thousand Carriers'' (picture book) (2008)
*''Parade of Shadows'' (2007)
*''Yatandou'' (picture book) (2007)
*''Summer of the War'' (2006)
*''The Turning (Russian Saga / Book 4)'' (2006)
*''Mackinac Bridge / The Story of the Five-Mile Poem (picture book)'' (2006)
*'' Listening for Lions'' (2005)
*'' Chu Ju's House (Also published as First Girl)'' (2004)
*''Burying the Sun (Russian Saga / Book 3)'' (2004)
*''Friend on Freedom River'' (picture book) (2004)
*''The Impossible Journey (Russian Saga / Book 2)'' (2003)
*''A Haunted House in Starvation Lake (Starvation Lake / Book 4)'' (2003)
*''Are There Bears in Starvation Lake? (Starvation Lake / Book 3)'' (2002)
*''The Wanigan: A Life on the River'' (2002)
*''Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect'' (2002)
*''Jam and Jelly by Holly and Nellie'' (picture book) (2002)
*''Rich and Famous in Starvation Lake (Starvation Lake / Book 2)'' (2001)
*''Angel on the Square (Russian Saga / Book 1)'' (2001) - telling the story of Katya, the daughter of a lady-in-waiting at the palace of St Petersburg around 1914.
*'' Homeless Bird'' (2000)
*''Welcome to Starvation Lake (Starvation Lake / Book 1)'' (2000)
*''Return to the Island (Mackinac Island Trilogy / Book 3)'' (2000)
*''Miranda's Last Stand'' (1999)
*''Forgive the River, Forgive the Sky'' (1998)
*''Farewell to the Island (Mackinac Island Trilogy / Book 2)'' (1998)
*''The Shadow of the Wolf''(Libby Mitchell Trilogy / Book 3) (1997)
*''The Miracle of St. Nicholas'' (picture book) (1997)
*''Friends'' (1997)
*''The Ambassador's Wife'' (adult book) (1997)
*''The Indian School'' (1996)
*''The President's Mother'' (adult book) (1996)
*''Once On This Island (Mackinac Island Trilogy / Book 1)'' (1995)
*''That Wild Berries Should Grow'' (1994)
*''Night of the Full Moon (Libby Mitchell Trilogy / Book 2)'' (1993) (illustrated by Leslie W. Bowman)
*''Goodbye, Vietnam'' (1992)
*''Bringing the Farmhouse Home'' (picture book) (1992)
*''Hannah'' (1991) (illustrated by Leslie W. Bowman)
*''The Secret Keeper'' (1990)
*''Silver'' (1988)
*''A Week of Raccoons'' (picture book) (1988)
*''Playing With Shadows'' (adult book) (1988)
*''Next Spring an Oriole (Libby Mitchell Trilogy / Book 1)'' (1987)
*''The Pathless Woods'' (1981)
*''A Time to Keep Silent'' (1979)
*''A Clearing in the Forest'' (1978)
References
External links
*
A.S.T.A.L.@R.I.C. author page
kidsreads.com profile, includes book information
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whelan, Gloria
1923 births
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American short story writers
21st-century American novelists
21st-century American short story writers
American children's writers
American historical novelists
American women novelists
American women short story writers
Living people
National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners
University of Michigan School of Social Work alumni
Women historical novelists
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American women writers