Monday 23 July 2012

Children's author and librarian dies

News has just come through that Margaret Mahey - prolific New Zealand childrens' & teens author passed away in Christchurch after a short illness.  I wont list all of Margaret's achievements - you can see many of them here at Wikipedia.  I should also point you to a tribute from a New Zealand librarians' blog which has a more local tribute to Mahey. I am sure that this blog will accrue a range of comments and tributes in coming days.

Perhaps what is less known about Margaret Mahey is that she was a qualified librarian who commenced her career at Petone just outside Wellington, worked for the School Library Service in Christchurch, and also worked as Children's Librarian at Canterbury Public Library from 1976.

During all of this time she was publishing stories and books, with her 1st book A Lion in the Meadow published in 1969.  She left her work in libraries in 1980 to write full time.  Her published works amount to over 120 books - amazingly prolific.  She will be long remembered and celebrated through her works.  Perhaps it is time for some of her works to be re-visited as many of the themes in her works are timeless.

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