Beloved Kiwi children’s author Margaret Mahy has passed away from cancer aged 76. Tributes have been pouring in for the author, who touched many New Zealanders’ lives with delightful children’s books such as A Lion in the Meadow.
“Farewell Margaret, I salute you, it has been both an honour and privilege to know you,” said former New Zealand publisher and bookseller Graham Beattie, who calls Margaret “one of New Zealand’s greatest-ever writers”.
“It’s terribly sad news,” friend and fellow author Judy Corbalis told the Guardian. “There was such scope and depth in what she did. She confronted any topic in her writing, particularly for older children, and she had a tremendous sense of fun.”
Margaret, who passed away peacefully in Christchurch yesterday, was diagnosed with cancer in April. A solo mother of two, she was the author of 100 picture books, 40 novels and 20 collections of short stories. She was appointed to the Order of New Zealand, the highest of the country’s honours, in 1993. At age 70 she received the prestigious international Hans Christian Andersen medal.
“I felt absolutely thrilled. It somehow seems impossible to think of winning it,” she said at the time.
Margaret was known for being extremely generous with her time, delighting Kiwi kids by reading to them in libraries and schools – often while wearing a colourful wig.
Do you have a favourite memory of a Margaret Mahy book?
