New Zealand author Margaret Mahy ONZ (1936-2012) was one of the world’s most famous children’s authors.
Born in Whakatane in1936, Margaret wrote her first story at the age of seven.
After graduating from Auckland University College and Canterbury University College with a BA in 1955, Margaret Mahy then attended the New Zealand Library School in Wellington where she received her Librarian’s diploma and then went to work for the Petone Public Library. She worked for the School Library Service in Christchurch and as a Children’s Librarian for Christchurch Public Library. During this time she had stories published in the New Zealand School Journal. She became a fulltime writer in 1980.
Margaret Mahy’s first book to be published was A Lion in the Meadow in 1969.
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”.
Margaret won the annual Carnegie Medal twice. It recognises the year’s best children’s book by a British subject, and she won for both The Haunting (1982) and The Changeover (1984).
