Margaret Mahy
| Margaret Mahy | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
Mahy, with her characteristic rainbow wig,
at the Kaiapoi Club, July 2011 |
|
| Born |
21 March 1936 Whakatane, New Zealand |
| Died | 23 July 2012 (aged 76) Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Occupation | Writer, librarian |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Period | 1969–2012 |
| Genre | Children's picture books, supernatural fiction |
| Notable works | |
| Notable awards |
Carnegie Medal 1982, 1984 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing 2006 |
| Website | |
| library |
|
Margaret Mahy, ONZ (21 March 1936 – 23 July 2012) was a New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. Many of her story plots have strong supernatural elements but her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up. She wrote more than 100 picture books, 40 novels and 20 collections of short stories. At her death she was one of thirty writers to win the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for her "lasting contribution to children's literature".
Mahy won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject, both for The Haunting (1982) and for The Changeover (1984). (As of 2012 seven writers have won two Carnegies, none three.) She was also a highly commended runner up for Memory (1987).
Among her children's books, A Lion in the Meadow and The Seven Chinese Brothers and The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate are considered national classics. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Catalan and Afrikaans. In addition, some stories have been translated into Russian, Chinese and Icelandic.
Mahy was born in 1936, the eldest of five children. She was raised in her birthplace of Whakatane. Her father, Frances George Mahy, was a bridge builder and often told his children adventure stories which later influenced Mahy's writing. Her mother was a teacher. She was regarded as a 'slow learner', and particularly hated mathematics. Her first published story was "Harry is Bad", written at age seven (published in the children's page of the Bay of Plenty Beacon). She showed it to her class to let them know that they could write stories at any age.
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Wikipedia