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You are here: Home / Archives for obituary

Wendy Cooling Obituaries & Appreciations

July 17, 2020 By achuka Leave a Comment

wendycooling

Wendy with Helen [Dunning] at the Puffin Summer Party 2007

Here is a selection of obituaries and appreciations of Wendy Cooling, whose death I was shocked to discover on opening the obituaries page in yesterday’s Times. The earlier Guardian obituary had passed me by and somehow or other the vagaries of the Twitter algorithm must have hidden all comment about her passing from my feed. The selection will be added to as and when I become aware of more.

I am very sorry for being so late in posting this news. My reaction was similar to that of Camilla Reid, writing on the Nosy Crow blog (see the link below):

I almost felt that it was impossible for Wendy to actually die. This is bonkers, obviously, but anyone who ever met her cannot have failed to notice in Wendy a vitality, a force of positive energy that is rare to encounter and would fool you into thinking it would go on forever.

She must have been at practically every children’s publishing event I ever attended in London. If she wasn’t, it would mean she was on one of her regular travelling expeditions, and if she was, you could bet that conversation would be as likely to be about her latest adventures in India, as it would about children’s books.

She will be greatly missed.

  • Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jul/03/wendy-cooling-obituary
  • The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/wendy-cooling-obituary-v72bf0xqg
  • Nosy Crow https://nosycrow.com/blog/wendy-cooling/
  • IBBY https://www.ibby.org.uk/wendy_cooling
  • Little Rebels https://littlerebels.org/2020/06/29/tribute-to-wendy-cooling/

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: death, obituaries, obituary

Andrew Clements (Frindle Author) Obituaries

December 16, 2019 By achuka Leave a Comment

The NYT reports:

Andrew Clements, who mined a brief career as a teacher in Illinois in writing two dozen books for young readers, most notably “Frindle,” which sold more than eight million copies, died on Nov. 28 at his home in West Baldwin, Maine. He was 70.

 

Other obits:
Publishers Weekly

 

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: obituary

Alison Prince Obits

November 16, 2019 By achuka Leave a Comment

 

Alison Prince, Watch With Mother writer, creator of Trumpton and children’s bookskm aurthor: born 26 March 1931; died 12 October 2019

The Guardian obituary appeared online at the end of October but for some reason the print version didn’t appear till today, Saturday 16 November.

Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/oct/30/alison-prince-obituary

Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/alison-prince-death-childrens-author-poet-television-trumpton-bbc-watch-with-mother-a9179671.html

 

 

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: obituaries, obituary

Death Of Richard Jackson, Judy Blume Editor

October 14, 2019 By achuka Leave a Comment

The death of, Richard Jackson, a significant children’s books editor and champion of Young Adult themes has been announced:

Richard Jackson, an editor who published books by Judy Blume, Paula Fox, Virginia Hamilton and other award-winning authors that broadened the scope of children’s literature, then late in life became a children’s author himself, died on Oct. 2 in Towson, Md. He was 84.

…His work as an editor beginning in the 1960s that changed the landscape of literature for young people. At a time when many people still thought of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries as the height of sophistication for young readers, he published authors who wrote about bullying, race, sexuality, adolescent angst of all kinds.

He often found himself defending the books he published against complaints from librarians, school boards and parents who deemed them too strong. 

Of publishing Judy Blume, Jackson said, “I felt her voice was so extraordinarily pure, I just couldn’t worry that we were going to raise hackles… There’s always someone to be offended. But it was never to raise hackles that we published her. It was the voice, and the absence of adult regret, instruction or nostalgia in those novels. She turns them over to the kids, over to the characters.”

More >>> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/13/books/richard-jackson-dead.html
Updated full-length obit. >>> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/13/books/richard-jackson-dead.html?smid=tw-nytobits&smtyp=cur

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: death, editor, obituary

Judith Kerr Obituaries

May 25, 2019 By achuka Leave a Comment

Judith Kerr, who died this week aged 95, shown above receiving BookTrust’s Lifetime Achievement Award…

Obituaries:
The Guardian
The Times
The Telegraph
The Independent
The Scotsman
The Herald – Scotland
Irish Times
Evening Standard
Daily Express
BBC
New York Times
Los Angeles Times
Boston Globe

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: obituaries, obituary

Anthea Bell (Translator) Obits

October 21, 2018 By achuka Leave a Comment

Anthea Bell, the translator of Asterix, and seven-times winer of the Mildred L Batchelder award (for translated children’s fiction published in the US) has died aged 82.

Claire Armitstead’s obituary in The Guardian is an excellent information-packed summary of her career.

Other notable obituaries are also listed.

Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/18/anthea-bell-obituary
The Times – https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/anthea-bell-obituary-zg3zq6vcz
Telegraph – https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2018/10/19/anthea-bell-prolific-translator-whose-versions-asterix-series/
New York Times – https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/obituaries/anthea-bell-dead.html

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: obituaries, obituary

Vladimir Radunsky Obituaries

October 6, 2018 By achuka Leave a Comment

Vladimir Radunsky, an illustrator who used an abundance of artistic styles to create captivating children’s books about subjects including Albert Einstein, a rapping dog and a towering stalk of asparagus, died on Sept. 11 at a hospital near his home in Rome. He was 64.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/05/obituaries/vladimir-radunsky-dead.html

Other obituaries/death notices:
Publishers Weekly

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: obituaries, obituary

John Cunliffe (Postman Pat creator) Obituaries

September 29, 2018 By achuka Leave a Comment

John Cunliffe, the creator of the Postman Pat character and stories, has died.
Here are the obituaries:

    • The Guardian
    • The Times
    • The Telegraph
    • The Herald, Scotland

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: obituaries, obituary

Clive King (Stig of the Dump) Obituaries

July 16, 2018 By achuka Leave a Comment

Extract from Julia Eccleshare’s Guardian obit.

Published in 1963, like many other successes Stig of the Dump was turned down by a succession of publishers before Kaye Webb, then creating the Puffin list, bought it and published it handsomely in a paperback edition with illustrations and a now iconic cover by Edward Ardizzone. Reflecting in an interview in 2013, 50 years after the book’s publication, King opined that Stig was rejected by publishers because, even then, adults were anxious about children acting so entirely alone: “It was beginning to be rather improper to let a child run wild like that,” he said.

In the intervening years, adults’ views of children’s unsupervised outdoor play have become even more fraught with anxiety about possible risk; to the point where such play has almost disappeared.

Despite that, because it is a story that is both delightful and strong, and maybe because it is possible to think that Stig and his adventures with Barney are imagined rather than real, the book has endured and flourished in the intervening 55 years. Having been in print continuously with more than two million copies sold, it is on every list of modern classic children’s books, is a staple of primary school classrooms, was selected as the representative title for the 60s in Puffin’s list of The Puffins of Puffins, and has been adapted twice for TV.

Guardian Obituary

Times Obituary

Telegraph Obituary

 

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Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: obituaries, obituary

Bob Bura Obituary

May 14, 2018 By achuka Leave a Comment

Bob Bura, who has died aged 93, was one of Britain’s most prolific animators. Working with his long-time collaborator, John Hardwick, he produced hundreds of films and live-action puppet sequences. Through their pioneering techniques of stop-motion, they brought to life characters in classic children’s television programmes from the 1960s to 80s such as Camberwick Green, Trumpton, Chigley and Captain Pugwash… …

 

Telegraph Obit

Independent Obit [2004] of colleague John Hardwick

Filed Under: Blog, Books Tagged With: animator, obituary

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