Juliet Marillier
Multi-Award Winning Author Juliet Marillier
Australia’s Juliet Marillier has won numerous literary awards including an American Library Assoc. Best Book, a Le Prix Imaginales and 3 Aurealis Awards. Yet, writing professionally didn’t come until later in life. Ms Marillier is a gifted musician who taught high school and university music. An opera singer, she is also an experienced choral conductor.
“Daughter of the Forest,” her first published novel, released to acclaim and was soon published in the U.S. and U.K. as well as New Zealand and Australia. This fairy tale told in an Irish setting became the first of the “Sevenwaters” trilogy (a fourth and fifth book have since been added). Her repertoire of stories expanded to four series plus the stand-alone novel, “Heart’s Blood.”
Ms Marillier’s unique blend of history, folklore, romance and family drama continually leaves readers spellbound and awaiting her next beguiling tale of human relationships and personal journeys. A member of the druid order OBOD (The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids), her characters’ interaction with the natural world around them reflects the author’s own spiritual values.
While Ms Marillier would appear at the top of her game, life isn’t always fair, nor scheduled, nor easy. In 2009, Ms Marillier was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was then, as so many women (including my own now deceased mother) can attest to, Ms Marillier had to find strength previously implanted in her fictional characters.
And, true to form, Juliet Marillier has risen to the challenge and chosen not to surrender, but to wage battle on her own terms against this disease.
2 Responses to “Juliet Marillier”
Juliet is all of the above plus more. I am lucky enough to live in the same town as Juliet and I have met her a couple of times. I invited Juliet to attend my bookclub and generously she agreed. We had a wonderful dialogue with her about many different things: how she became a writer, the differences between writing for adults and children, her OBOD links and most interestingly to us; the Pagan themes in her writing. It was lovely to meet her and she was very interesting. Unlike many who are well known, Juliet is a quietly spoken and self effacing person. It is great to see you appreciating her and spreading the word about her marvellous historically inspired fantasy novels. My favourites are Wolfskin and Foxmask.
Philip, thanks for this, I love her stories, & she & they are inspiring! Hhk : )
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