Margaret Mahy
Margaret Mahy
Margaret Mahy, ONZwas a New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. 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"...
NationalityNew Zealander
ProfessionYoung Adult Author
Date of Birth21 March 1936
By the time ordinary life asserted itself once more, I would feel I had already lived for a while in some other lifetime, that I had even taken over someone else's life.
I, personally, have found reading a continual support to writing.
At this stage I am not involved with young adults as closely as many other writers. My children are grown up and my grandchildren are still quite young.
At the same time, I think books create a sort of network in the reader's mind, with one book reinforcing another. Some books form relationships. Other books stand in opposition. No two writers or readers have the same pattern of interaction.
I don't want to die, really. I'm interested in what happens next, so I've got to keep on.
People can say what they like about the eternal verities, love and truth and so on, but nothing's as eternal as the dishes.
Every writer has to find their own way into writing.
Anyone interested in the world generally can't help being interested in young adult culture - in the music, the bands, the books, the fashions, and the way in which the young adult community develops its own language.