New Zealand’s greatest children’s author, Margaret Mahy, passed away yesterday in Christchurch at the age of 76. She had written more than 100 picture books, 40 novels and 20 collections of short stories, and her books have been translated into at least 15 different languages. Her contribution to international children’s literature has been recognised with many awards, including the Carnegie Medal on two occasions, and the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Medal. She was also awarded an Order of New Zealand. She was a children’s librarian, a mother, and a prolific writer with a huge imagination. She loved interacting with children, often wearing her vibrant rainbow wig.
Margret Mahy was a strong supporter of children’s writing and in 1993 she judged Timaru’s Ursula Moray Williams children’s writing competition. She will live on through her rich legacy of writing for children of all ages.
Click
here to go to the Wikipedia entry on Margaret Mahy.
Click
here to go to the Christchurch City Libraries’ Margaret Mahy pages.
