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Margaret Mahy


New Zealand (1936 - 2012)

Margaret Mahy was born in New Zealand in 1936, the eldest of five children, with a huge extended family in the surrounding neighbourhood, and from the beginning her vivid imagination and love of storytelling sometimes confused reality and fantasy. She was a solitary little tomboy, living in her own world and talking out loud to herself. She knew she would be A Writer.

She studied philosophy at university in Auckland and Christchurch, and then qualified as a librarian, specialising in children's reading. She brought up her two daughters alone, which at the time meant life was often tough. In 1968, an American publisher spotted one of her stories published in a journal issued to New Zealand schools. They asked for more and Margaret sent them one hundred - fifteen years of unpublished work. They were taken and she really was A Writer.

Margaret published well over a hundred titles and won several major prizes and awards including the highest honour New Zealand offers, The Order of New Zealand, limited to 20 living people, for her internationally-acclaimed contribution to children's literature. Besides this, she twice won the prestigious Carnegie Medal, ('The Haunting', 1982, and 'The Changeover' 1984) In the States too, her books are rapturously received, several having been chosen as ALA Notables and Best Books of the Year. Margaret Mahy 's books have been translated into more than fifteen languages.

Mahy died in Christchurch on 23 July 2012, aged 76.
 

Genres: Inspirational, Children's Fiction
 
Series
Cousins Quartet
   1. The Good Fortunes Gang (1993)
   2. A Fortunate Name (1993)
   3. A Fortune Branches Out (1993)
   4. Tangled Fortunes (1994)
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Novels
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Collections
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Picture Books show
 
Chapter Books show
 
Non fiction show
 
Omnibus editions show
 
Margaret Mahy recommends
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The Boy Who Could Fly (2010)
James Norcliffe
"A rich fantasy - alive with original twists, surprises and mysteries."

Anthologies containing stories by Margaret Mahy
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The Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2011 (2015)
(Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror, book 2)
edited by
Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene
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Bones (2011)
Terrifying Tales to Haunt Your Dreams
edited by
Lois Metzger
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The Wilful Eye (2011)
(Tales from the Tower, book 1)
edited by
Isobelle Carmody and Nan McNab

More anthologies 


Awards
Carnegie Medal Best Book winner (1983) : The Haunting
Carnegie Medal Best Book winner (1985) : The Changeover
World Fantasy Best Novel nominee (1987) : The Tricksters


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