“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.” – Margaret Mahy
I’ve written about Mahy before but on the
occasion of what would have been her 81st birthday I thought it
appropriate to say just a few more words about this path-setting writer from
New Zealand. Mahy started her
professional life as a librarian and it was this association with books and the
words of writers, coupled with “the light in children’s eyes when they
discovered new worlds through books” that led her to become a writer herself.
Twice awarded the Carnegie Medal – for The Haunting and The Changeover – she also won the world’s top international prize
for children’s and young adult literature when she was named for the Hans
Christian Andersen Award in 2006, just a few years before her death. The words written about her then bear
repeating:
“Mahy's language is rich in poetic imagery,
magic, and supernatural elements. Her oeuvre provides a vast, luminous, but
intensely personal metaphorical arena for the expression and experience of
childhood and adolescence. 
Equally important, however, are her rhymes and poems
for children. Mahy's works are known to children and young adults all over the
world.”
Equally important, however, are her rhymes and poems
for children. Mahy's works are known to children and young adults all over the
world.”
Each year, The Margaret Mahy Award is presented
to a writer who has made a significant contribution to the broad field of children's
literature and literacy. Author of 100 picture books, 40
novels and 20 short story collections, her advice to young writers was first to
be good readers, and then simply, “to write.”
Perfect advice for A Writer’s Moment.
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