 | Doyen of Australian writers for children and young adults, Patricia Wrightson has died at the age of 88.
Wrightson was the author of 28 novels, from The Crooked Snake in 1955, to A Wisp of Smoke in 2004. She was the winner of many prizes in Australia including: the Children's Book Council Book of the Year Award in 1956 for The Crooked Snake, in 1974 for The Nargun and the Stars, in 1978 for The Ice is Coming, and in 1984 for A Little Fear. She was awarded an OBE for services to writing in 1978, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1986. The Children's Writing Award category of the NSW Premier's Literary Awards is named in her honour. |
Not a lot of obituaries have been printed as yet, but you can get some idea of the esteem in which she was held by reading the following:
"The Australian newspaper
"The Daily Examiner" newspaper, Grafton
Judith Ridge on the "Misrule" weblog
Jonathan Shaw on his weblog
,A href=http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/author-delved-into-world-of-children-20100401-ri05.html>"The Sydney Morning Herald" newspaper
with all due modesty, might I draw your attention to my own blog entry about Patricia Wrightson's death, mainly for its quotation of a letter she wrote to a school principal who had taken offence at something she published when editor of The School Magazine. And for the comments from children's people who knew her. she was quite a woman.
You may certainly draw my attention to your post, and I've now added a link to it in the article.
While I'm drawing attention, I might mention that the Herald had a piece by Maurice Saxby on the weekend. I couldn't find it in the physical newspaper, but it's on line.