Margaret Mahy
Margaret Mahy, ONZ was a New Zealand author of childrens and young adult books. Many of her story plots have strong supernatural elements but her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up. She wrote more than 100 picture books,novels andcollections of short stories. At her death she was one of thirty writers to win the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for her lasting contribution to childrens literature.
Mahy was born in 1936, the eldest of five children. She was raised in her birthplace of Whakatane. Her father, Frances George Mahy, was a bridge builder and often told his children adventure stories which later influenced Mahys writing. Her mother was a teacher. She was regarded as a slow learner, and particularly hated mathematics. Her first published story was Harry is Bad, written at age seven . She showed it to her class to let them know that they could write stories at any age.
Source: Wikipedia