Name: Margaret Mahy

Margaret Mahy lives in Governors Bay, near Christchurch. She is one of New Zealand’s best-known authors. She has won many national and international awards for her picture books and young-adult novels. Before she became a writer in 1980 she was a librarian.

In 1993, Mahy received an Order of New Zealand, the highest honour a citizen can receive and in 2005 she was declared a New Zealand icon.

Margaret’s answers to questions from students:

Do you have a favourite book out of the ones you’ve written and why?
From Timothy

This is a difficult question to answer, Timothy, but A Lion in the Meadow, my first published book is still one of my favourites along with The Great White Man-Eating Shark. There is a book of short stories called The Door in the Air I am very fond of also, and The Changeover would be one of my favourite books for young adults.

How old were you when you first started writing stories?
From Lucy

Hi there, Lucy! I know just how old I was when I started writing, because my mother saved the first story I wrote, and put my age on it in green ink. I was seven years old.

What do you love about writing children’s books?
From Kahu

Hello Kahu. I like the way you can have jokes with words in children’s stories, and you can have a lot of fun with the ideas too. Some of my stories have the same pattern as old folk tales. I don’t always plan this. It just seems to happen as I try to work out my ideas for the story.

How many awards have you won?
From Connie

Thank you for your question Connie. I have won a British award, the Carnegie Medal, twice and I have won a New Zealand award, the Esther Glen Medal, six times. But when I began writing there were not many writers in New Zealand. Luckily we have many more writers today so it is harder to win awards than it was when I first began writing.

Did you always want to be an author?
From Jordan

Hi Jordan. Yes, I have wanted to be an author for as long as I can remember. But I love reading other people’s stories too. I started writing when I was seven and I had things published in children’s column and so on, but I was about twenty five when I began to have stories published in the School Journal and I was about thirty when I began to have books published.

Who is someone you admire?
From Sally

I admire a lot of people, Sally. I admire All Blacks like Daniel Carter, other writers like Tessa Duder and Vicky Jones, I admire the people who work hard to save our native birds like the kiwi, and people who work hard to help other people who are struggling in the world. And I admire a lot of teachers too.

What gives you ideas for books?
From Simon

Hello Simon! These days most of the ideas I get come from things that I see going on around me. I got the idea for The Great White Man-eating Shark when I was in a swimming pool. The pool was full of people and I kept bumping into other swimmers. I began to think of the ways I could get the whole swimming pool to myself, and I imagined myself getting dressed up as a shark and frightening people out of the pool. Of course I did not even try to do this, but I did write a story, using the idea.

What do you use to write your books?
From Tama

These days I usually put the story down on my computer. Then I print it out, leaving plenty of space between the lines so that I can do the corrections (and I usually need to do a lot of corrections). Then I put the corrections into the computer story. I read it through, often putting in more corrections and then I print it off again and do even more corrections until I think I have got the story as good as I can possibly get it. Then I print it out for the last time and send it to a publisher, hoping that the publisher will like it. Thank you, Tama.

What do you think when you see kids reading books you have written?
From Samuel

Hi Samuel! I love reading other people’s stories, so when I see kids reading my books I hope I have passed on some of the fun and mystery that other people’s books have given me. I hope kids will have a really good time reading my stories and that they will enjoy the words and the things that happen to people in the story.

Did you base any of your characters on yourself, if so, who?
From Siosi

Well, Siosi, a lot of the characters in my books are a little bit like me. I wish I knew just which books you might have read. I was telling some one when I was answering another question that I was a little bit like Norvin in The Great White Man-eating Shark, but I hope I am not very like him… (though I am quite a good swimmer just as Norvin was). And I once did four books about a family of cousins called the Fortune Family, and I was rather like the heroine of one of those books A Fortune Branches Out because I loved climbing trees as a child.

Do you have any pets, what are they called?
From Taylor

I have a big fat black and white cat called Bustopher, and a lively black dog called Baxter. Baxter is a lot of fun, and loves going for walks with me. He gets bored when I sit at the computer writing stories and answering letters. I wonder if you have a dog, Taylor. If you do I am sure it loves going for walks and playing games.

Do you still get nervous when making speeches to crowds?
From Matthew

I am always nervous though I have had a lot of practice at talking to people. I have been a talkative person ever since I was a small child, but you can never be sure you are going to tell people things that they want to hear. And you can never be sure that you have been clear enough about ideas. Of course talking about things often helps you to work out the ideas you have about them. Thank you Matthew.

You’ve written so many books! Do you find it hard to come up with new ideas?
From Nau

Hello Nau! There are always new ideas in the world out there, but it is sometimes hard to find them. I think practice helps writers to recognise ideas they can use. And I think I am always watching the world to see if I can see anything interesting happening out there… anything that might make a good story.

How long does it take for you to write a book?
From Hannah

Hello Hannah. It takes me about six weeks to write a picture book story, but this is because I read them aloud to myself and think about them in between correcting them and writing them down. It takes me about two years to write a young adult novel… l sometimes take a bit longer. I am not one of those very fast writers, Hannah, but I have had a lot of practice, and practice sometimes speeds things up.

Page created July 2005

Image used with permission from Capital E National Theatre for Children, Mahy Madness.