Leonard Wibberley

Leonard Wibberley

Leonard Wibberley with actress Rosalind Russell, ca 1962
Born Leonard Patrick O'Connor Wibberley
9 April 1915
County Dublin, Ireland
Died 22 November 1983 (aged 68)
Santa Monica, California, US
Pen name Patrick O'Connor
Occupation Writer, author
Genre Fiction, non-fiction, satire
Children Cormac Wibberley

Leonard Patrick O'Connor Wibberley (9 April 1915 – 22 November 1983): a prolific and versatile Ireland-born author, who also wrote under the name Patrick O'Connor, spent most of his life in the United States.[1] Wibberley published more than 100 books, but is perhaps best known for five satirical novels about an imaginary country Grand Fenwick, particularly The Mouse That Roared.[1]

Wibberley's adult and juvenile publications cut across the categories of fictional novels, history and biography. He also wrote short stories (several published in The Saturday Evening Post), plays and long verse poems. He produced more than fifty juvenile books; for example (with Farrar, Straus and Giroux), the seven-volume Treegate series of historical fiction, which takes place during the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and a four-volume life of Thomas Jefferson. As Patrick O'Connor, he wrote the Black Tiger series on auto racing, for young adults. Throughout the decades, scenes and senses of the sea play important parts in both Wibberley's fiction and nonfiction. He wrote a mystery series and is classified as a science fiction writer. Three of Wibberley's novels have been made into movies: The Mouse That Roared (1959), The Mouse on the Moon (1963), The Hands of Cormac Joyce (1972).

Biography

Leonard Wibberley was born in Dublin and educated in Ireland and England. He was a son of Agronomy professor and author Thomas Wibberley, a Professor of Agriculture, University College, Cork (one of the three constituents of the National University of Ireland) and Queen's University Belfast. The elder Wibberley was an experimental agronomist, who wrote several books arguing his methods and inventions, by which he believed the UK might feed itself, absent empire: notably Farming on Factory Lines: continuous cropping for the large farmer (London, 1919). The latter's second name, "Patrick", was his confirmation name; his third, a matronymic also used as nom de plume: from his mother's, " Sinaid O'Connor".[2]

Wibberley began a long career in newspapers as copy boy for the Sunday Dispatch (London), progressed to reporter for the Daily Mirror (London), and then editor (among other jobs) in Trinidad, before moving to the United States in 1943, where, in his late twenties, he was both foreign correspondent for the Evening News (London), and cable dispatch editor for the Associated Press (New York City) during World War II.[2]

In 1947, Wibberley moved permanently to California as foreign correspondent, then reporter, for the Los Angeles Times. While working for that newspaper he began his novel-writing career. After leaving the Times he was briefly a reporter for the Turlock Journal, until the appearance of his first novel, The King's Beard (1952), at age 37. He then settled permanently in Hermosa Beach, California, as a full-time author. From that date, he published over 100 books, at a rate of at least one a year and averaging more than three. Many were with three publishers: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; William Morrow; Dodd, Mead and Company. The best-known of Wibberley's books, The Mouse that Roared, was kept in print for some time by Bantam Books and then Four Walls Eight Windows.

Personal life

Wibberley took part in plays, did local radio readings, and had a syndicated column, "The Wibberley Pages". He was married twice: first in Trinidad to writer Olga Maynard, and second, in California, to Hazel Holton. He had a total of seven children, including philosophy author Patrick Maynard (by his first marriage) and film writer Cormac Wibberley (by his second marriage). Leonard Wibberley died of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California, aged 68, on 22 November 1983.

Legacy

A posthumous book of his last short writings has appeared. Wibberley donated manuscripts and proofs of many of his works to "The Leonard Wibberley Archive" of the library collections of the University of Southern California, where they are available.[3]

Published adult writing

Short stories, novellas

The Saturday Evening Post

The "Mouse" series

Title Year Publisher
The Mouse That Roared 1955 New York: William Morrow
Beware of the Mouse 1958 New York: Putnam
The Mouse on the Moon 1962 New York: William Morrow
The Mouse on Wall Street 1969 New York: William Morrow
The Mouse that Saved the West 1981 New York: William Morrow

Other novels

As Leonard Holton: "Father Joseph Bredder" mystery series, Dodd, Mead (New York)

Non-fiction

Published youth (juvenile) writing

As Christopher Webb, with Funk & Wagnalls, New York

As Patrick O'Connor

"Black Tiger" series, E. M. Hale (Eau Claire, Wisc.)

Ives Washburn (New York)

Farrar, Straus & Giroux Ariel youth books

"John Treegate" series (originally four)

Non-fictional F S & G books

Life of Thomas Jefferson historical novels

Other juvenile fiction

Collected short works

Plays and long verse pieces

Posthumously published short works

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kerr, Peter (25 November 1983). "LEONARD WIBBERLEY, 68, DIES; WROTE 'MOUSE THAT ROARED'". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Leonard Wibberley says", dust jacket of The Trouble with the Irish (see "Non-fiction" in bibliog. above).
  3. ↑ Profile, University of Southern California archives; accessed 11 April 2014.

External links