Children’s writer honoured

Press, 28 June 1983, Page 1

Children’s writer honoured

Margaret Mahy, of Governor’s Bay, has won the Carnegie Medal, the most prestigious British award for children’s literature. She is only the second non-British writer to be honoured by an award which was started by the Library Association in 1935. Ms Mahy’s medal, the award of which was announced in Britain last evening, is for her novel, “The Haunting," which was intended for readers 11 years and older. At her home last evening, Ms Mahy was in the middle of four new projects — a long short story, two novels (one “a very big book”), and the text for another picture book. They are aimed at a wide age-group. Later this year, Ms Mahy will travel to Britain to open a conference of the Youth Libraries Group at Durham University. She will receive the award during the visit. “All the stories I write I think of as stories to be told aloud,” she said. “They carry heavy visual images.” Many of her stories have been illustrated by overseas artists, and she is sometimes surprised to see how her fantasies are visualised by others. Although her stories do not have a specific New Zealand setting, a fact which helped keep local publishers from producing her material in the first place, she often has New Zealand places in mind. She may see St Martins, a Christchurch suburb, while she writes a story, then see illustrations that have houses with thatched roofs. Ms Mahy was writing stories for the “New Zealand School Journal” in the 1960 s when an American reader who saw those magazines asked if she would be interested in having her stories pubished as a text for a picture book.

“So my publishers have tended to be overseas,” she said. “My stories don’t have a strong local background." That was unfortunate, in a way, since “it tends to distance you from the local writing community,” she said. Ms Mahy worked for the School Library Service in Christchurch from 1966 to 1976, then went on to be the Canterbury Public Library children's librarian until 1980, when she left to write full-time. Her first stories had been published as books in 1969, and she has twice won the New Zealand Library Association’s Esther Glen medal for the most distinguished contribution to New Zealand literature for children. Those awards were in 1970, for “The Lion in the Meadow” and in 1973, for “The First Margaret Mahy Story Book.” “The Haunting” was her first published novel for children. The Carnegie Medal was founded to commemorate Andrew Carnegie, the Scot-tish-born American philanthropist who was the benefactor of many public libraries in Britain, the Commonwealth, and the United States. It is awarded annually, except in years when no book reaches the judges' standards. Until 1969, it was given only to writers living in Britain, but terms of the award were then extended to include any outstanding children’s book written in English which received its first publication in Britain. The first non-Britisb writer to receive the award was an Australian, Ivan Southall, who won it for “Josh” in 1977. Ms Mahy was born and reared in Whakatane. She started writing stories when she was seven, and has published more than 30 books. In a review for the “Guardian,” a critic wrote that her “particular gift is in superbly imaginative stories, drawing her readers in with a child’s-eye view of the world.” A special function will be held in the Canterbury Publie Library’s staff room tomorrow to honour Ms Mahy’s achievement. The City Librarian, Mr J. E. D. Stringleman, told the City Council’s cultural committee yesterday that Ms Mahy had “hit the jackpot” with her first novel. She had left the children’s library because she had too many stories to tell and not enough time to tell them-