Patricia Wrightson is one of Australia's most distinguished writers for children. Since the 1970s she has written twenty-one books and received many prestigious honours and awards for her fiction. She has also won overseas awards for her books, and has delivered major addresses and lectures in the United States of America, Canada and Japan. In 1977 Patricia Wrightson was awarded an Officer of the British Empire.
Background
The third of a family of six children of a country solicitor who educated his children in "literature, philosophy and wonder", she was born Patricia Furlonger in Lismore, New South Wales. Patricia Wrightson was the daughter of a country solicitor from whom she received an education in 'literature, philosophy and wonder'.
She married in 1943 and had two children, Peter and Jenny, before a divorce in 1953.
She died of "natural causes" on 15 March 2010, a few days after entering a New South Wales hospital.
Education
Her formal education came largely through a state correspondence school set up for children in the country.
Career
During the second world war, she moved to Sydney and worked in a munitions factory before becoming a hospital administrator in Bonalbo in the mid-1940s.
In the mid-60s she became assistant editor, and later editor, of School Magazine, a literary publication for children. By then, she had begun her career as a writer with The Crooked Snake (1955), which was soon followed by The Bunyip Hole (1958). Both were conventional, realistic stories very much within the tradition of children's fiction of the time.
As it developed, Wrightson's work revealed two key characteristics: her use of Aboriginal folklore, with its rich fantasy and mystery, and her understanding of the importance of the land.
Patricia Wrightson has also won overseas awards for her books, and has delivered major addresses and lectures in the United States of America, Canada and Japan.
In 1977 Patricia Wrightson was awarded an Officer of the British Empire.