Robert C. O'Brien

Robert Leslie Carroll Conly (January 11, 1918 – March 5, 1973), better known by his pen name Robert C. O'Brien, was an American novelist and a journalist for National Geographic magazine. He is best known for his children's novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, which won the Newbery Medal 1972. His novel was later adapted to Don Bluth's animated film The Secret of NIMH (1982).

Early life Conly was born in Brooklyn, New York, the third of five children in a wealthy Irish Catholic family. With interests in music and literature, Conly entered Williams College in 1935 but left in his second year. He then went through a period that he referred to as his "breakdown", briefly working in Albany, New York, before going back to his family in disgrace. Although he later studied for a time at Juilliard, he went on to receive his Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Rochester in 1940.

Writings Journalism After his university graduation, Conly had a brief stint in an advertising agency, and then began working for Newsweek. He was ineligible for conscription during World War II, as unfit due to physical and mental ailments (classification 4-F in later terms). He then covered national and city news for the Washington Times-Herald beginning in 1944 and later the Pathfinder, a news magazine. In 1951, he began working as an editor and writer for National Geographic, a job which was to take him around the world. After his death in 1973, Sally and their daughter Jane finished the latter novel using his notes so it could be published posthumously. Z for Zachariah received a 1976 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery from the Mystery Writers of America.

His daughter Jane Leslie Conly later published two sequels to Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH: Racso and the Rats of NIMH (1986) and R-T, Margaret, and the Rats of NIMH (1990).

Personal life Robert Conly married Sally McCaslin in 1943. The couple had four children, three daughters and a son. The marriage lasted until his death from a heart attack thirty years later in 1973. Mrs. Conly has written about her husband under the name Sally O'Brien.

Sources consulted Masis, Boris (1997). "What has been said about Robert C. O'Brien". The Z for Zachariah Nuclear Comparison Page (borism.net/zforz).