"Reading is very creative - it's not just a passive thing. I write a story; it goes out into the world; somebody reads it and, by reading it, completes it." ― Margaret Mahy
This is a hard post to write. I want to pay tribute to a wonderful lady who filled the world with the magic of her words, and yet I don't feel like I have the right words to express the sadness I feel at her passing or the absolute joy she gave to so many.
Margaret Mahy passed away yesterday after a brief illness and today the tributes are flowing for someone who retained a childlike view of the world with the incredible talent for transferring that view to her stories so children and adults alike could share it with her. Margaret was born in 1936 in Whakatane. Much of her life was spent in Christchurch where she worked as a children's librarian (which makes her even more special to my heart), raised a family and created stories - more than 200 books and poems are part of her legacy. She is an award winning author both nationally and internationally winning the Carnegie Medal and being the only New Zealander to be awarded the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award. She was made a Member of the Order of New Zealand in 1993.
I had the honour of meeting her at a Storylines Festival a couple of years ago and one of my treasured posssessions is a signed copy of The Word Witch: The magical verse of Margaret Mahy. This collection of her verse (some which were subsequently transformed into picture books) shows her range across the ages from children to adult with humour and cutting wit. I am also biased in that two of my favourite stories is The Librarian and the Robbers and the lesser known Zerelda's Horses.
Some of my Auckland Libraries colleagues are also paying tribute to Margaret Mahy.
RIP Margaret, your words and playful ways have, and will, touch wee minds always, mine included... - Dave
I have too many memories of Margaret Mahy to share... I am too sad to share them. Today I am wearing my Margaret Mahy lion t-shirt, with purple - her favourite colour. - Annie
May we all wear rainbow wigs to work tomorrow ... - Fiona
To discover (or rediscover) the magic of Margaret Mahy at Auckland Libraries, click here.
I finish this tribute with words from the book that started it all The Lion in the Meadow.
"The little boy and the big roaring yellow whiskery lion went to play in the other meadow. The dragon stayed where he was, and nobody minded. The mother never ever made up a story again."
3 comments:
The kids found a withdrawn copy of 'The Dragon's Telephone' on their shelves in the weekend, which none of us had read before, and they were totally suckered into the story. Me, I was also appreciating (as ever) the way Mahy shows us our own familiar landscapes in her stories - beaches, baches, classes of kids who could have been us - and then gives them the magical twist of transformation that really isn't such a leap, specially for kids. There really could be a dragon hanging out on the beach, ordering pizza. What an amazing, wonderful legacy.
The Changeover is still one of my favourite fantasy novels - I've read and reread it, gifted it, spilled yoghurt on it, cleaned it up and read it again. It whet my appetite for urban fantasy, and now I can't get enough.
I remember as a fairly new librarian straight out of secondary school being enchanted to find "The librarian and the robbers" when it was originally published in the (then) NZLA's monthly publication in the mid-1970s. At this stage of my life, I thought this was rather a stuffy and dull publication and only read it because I 'ought' to. I kept this issue for years, long after I ditched other back copies. It was such fun to see a librarian portrayed as resourceful and adventurous person, capable of managing a bunch of reprobates and finding romance at the same time. Many of Margaret's leading characters also had this wonderful and slightly zany blend of attributes and, like their creator, the blessed ability to see the world in a slightly off-centre way which picks up on the absurdities of everyday life. I think of Margaret Mahy and Terry Pratchett as kindred souls when it comes to storytelling. She and her stories will be greatly missed.
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