margaret mahy down the back of the chair

On 29 April 2013, New Zealand’s top honour for children’s books was renamed the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award. In 2006 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award (known as the Little Nobel Prize) in recognition of a 'lasting contribution to children's literature'. The Margaret Mahy Medal Award was established by the New Zealand Children's Book Foundation in 1991 to provide recognition of excellence in children's literature, publishing and literacy in New Zealand. In addition, some stories have been translated into Russian, Chinese and Icelandic.įor her contributions to children's literature she was made a member of the Order of New Zealand. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Catalan and Afrikaans. Among her children's books, A Lion in the Meadow and The Seven Chinese Brothers and The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate are considered national classics.

There have 100 children's books, 40 novels, and 20 collections of her stories published. Her books The Haunting and The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance both received the Carnegie Medal of the British Library Association.

While the plots of many of her books have strong supernatural elements, her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up. Margaret Mahy was a well-known New Zealand author of children's and young adult books.

Margaret mahy down the back of the chair