Victor Kelleher

{{short description|Australian author (born 1939)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}} {{BLP sources|date=May 2015}} {{Infobox writer  | name = Victor Kelleher | image = | imagesize = | caption = A Photo of Kelleher (Sorry for the size!) | pseudonym = Veronica Hart (In two books) | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1939|7|19|df=y}} | birth_place = [[London]], England | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = [[Young adult fiction]], [[Children's fiction]] | nationality = Australian | period = 1979–present | genre = Fantasy, Science Fiction | subject = | movement = | influences = | influenced = | signature = | website = }} {{Portal|Children's literature}}

'''Victor Kelleher''' (born 1939) is an Australian writer. Kelleher was born in [[London]]<ref name="Harper">{{cite web|title=Victor Kelleher author page|url=https://www.harpercollins.com.au/cr-109047/victor-kelleher/ |website=HarperCollinsPublishers Australia|access-date=2019-11-16}}</ref> and moved to Africa with his parents, at the age of fifteen. He spent the next twenty years travelling and studying in Africa, before moving to New Zealand. Kelleher received a master's degree from St Andrew's University and a Ph.D. in English Literature from The University of South Africa. He has taught in Africa, New Zealand and Australia. While in New Zealand, he began writing part-time, prompted by homesickness for Africa. He moved to Australia in 1976,<ref>{{cite web|title=Victor Kelleher author page|url=https://www.penguin.com.au/authors/victor-kelleher |website=Penguin Press Australia|access-date=2019-11-16}}</ref> with his South African wife, Alison, and was associate professor at the [[University of New England, Australia|University of New England]], in [[Armidale]], New South Wales, before moving to Sydney to write full-time. After receiving a grant from the Australia Council Literature Board, Kelleher spent six months of 1996 at the Kessing Writers' Studio in Paris.<ref name="Harper" /> Many of the books he has written have been based on his childhood and his travels in Africa.

Kelleher has won many awards for his books, such as the ''Australian Children's Book Award''.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

==Awards== * 1989 – [[Children's Peace Literature Award]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/v112?mainTabTemplate=awardDefault|title=Children's Peace Literature Award|website=AustLit|access-date=2019-11-12}}</ref> * 1993 – [[COOL Award Winners#Fiction for Older Readers Award Winners|COOL Fiction for Older Readers Award]] ([[List of CBCA Awards|CBCA]]) won for ''Del-Del'' * 1992 – nominated, [[Ditmar Award results#1992: Syncon, Sydney|Ditmar Award, Best Novel or Collection award]] for ''Brother Night'' and ''Del Del'' * 1990 – nominated, [[Ditmar Award results#1990: Danse Macabre, Melbourne|Ditmar Award, Best Australian Long Fiction award]] for ''The Red King'' * 1988 – nominated, [[Ditmar Award results#1988: Conviction, Sydney|Ditmar Award, Best Australian Long Fiction award]] for ''The Makers'' * 1987 – nominated, [[Ditmar Award results#1987: Capcon, Canberra|Ditmar Award, Best Australian Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel award]] for ''[[Taronga]]'' * 1985 – [[Ditmar Award results#1985: Advention '85, Adelaide|Ditmar Award, Best Australian Novel award]] for ''Beast of Heaven'' * 1983 – Children's Book Council of Australia Award for Book of the Year for ''Master of the Grove''<ref>{{cite web|title=Winners and Commended Books 1980 – 1989|url=http://cbca.org.au/8089.htm|website=Children's Book Council of Australia|access-date=23 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216043453/http://cbca.org.au/8089.htm|archive-date=16 December 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==List of books== ===Series=== ====Parkland Series==== *''Parkland'' (1994)-Book 1 of the '''Parkland Series''' *''Earthsong'' (1995)-Book 2 of the '''Parkland Series''' *''Fire Dancer'' (1996)-Book 3 of the '''Parkland Series'''

====Gibblewort the Goblin series==== *''Goblin in the Bush'' (2002) *''Goblin on the Reef'' (2003) *''Goblin in the City'' (2004) *''Goblin in the Rainforest'' (2004) *''Goblin at the Zoo'' (2005) *''Goblin in the Snow'' (2005) *''Goblin at the Beach'' (2007) *''Gibblewort the Goblin: The Get Me Outta Here! Collection'' (2014) *''Gibblewort the Goblin: The Winter Escape Collection'' (2014) *''Gibblewort the Goblin: The Summer Holiday Collection'' (2014)

===Novels=== *''Forbidden Paths of Thual'' (1979) *''Voices from the River'' (1979) *''The Hunting of Shadroth'' (1981) *''Master of the Grove'' (1982) *''Africa And After'' (1983) *''Papio'' (1984) *''The Green Piper'' (1984) *''The Beast of Heaven'' (1984) *''[[Taronga]]'' (1986) *''The Makers'' (1987) *''Baily's Bones'' (1988) *''Em's Story'' (1988) *''The Red King'' (1989) *''Wintering'' (1990) *''Brother Night'' (1990) *''[[Del-Del]]'' (1992) *''To The Dark Tower'' (1992) *''Micky Darlin' '' (1992) *''Rescue! <small>An African Adventure</small>'' (1992) *''Where The Whales Sing'' (1994) *''Red Heart'' (1996) *''Storyman'' (1996) *''Slow Burn'' (1997) *''Into The Dark'' (1999) *''Riding The Whales'' (1999) *''[[The Ivory Trail]]'' (1999) *''Billy The Baked-Bean Kid'' (2002) *''[[Born of the Sea]]'' (2003) *''The Grimes Family'' (2004) *''Dogboy'' (2006)

===Collections=== *''The Traveller: Stories of Two Continents'' (1988) *''Collected Stories'' (1997)

===Aussie Bites=== *''Magic Violin'' *''The Gorilla Suit'' * ''Tim and Tig'' (2007) *''What Dino Saw''

===Picture books=== *''Johnny Wombat'' (1996) (with Craig Smith) *''Where's God?'' (2005) (illustrated by Elise Hurst) Billy the Baked Bean Kid

===As Veronica Hart=== * ''Double God'' (1994) * ''The House That Jack Built''

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.penguin.com.au/contributors/997/victor-kelleher Penguin Books Australia author profile] * [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/k/victor-kelleher/ Fantastic Fiction Kelleher profile]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelleher, Victor}} [[Category:1939 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:English emigrants to Australia]] [[Category:Australian children's writers]] [[Category:Australian fantasy writers]] [[Category:Australian horror writers]]