Here's a fresh instalment of the Margaret Mahy Questionnaire, featuring author-illustrator Kat Quin. Read on for her takes on changeovers, rattlebang cars and sonsense nongs! 1. Describe yourself in three words I’m still learning. 2. During the height of adolescence, was it good changeover? I found out I was going to be a mother at the height of adolescence, so changeover was swift, brutal and beautiful. 3. Are you haunted by a particular memory? When I was 6 or 7, I had a pr

You know it, you love it - it's the Mahy Questionnaire! This month's instalment features award-winning author Fleur Beale. She tell us all about holey floors, and getting bitten by a chair. 1. Describe yourself in three words Very very slippery. 2. During the height of adolescence, was it good changeover? I’ll let you know when/if it happens. 3. Are you haunted by a particular memory? All those characters who are still looking for a story. The Haunting by Margaret Mahy (J.M.

Your favourite Mahy Questionnaire is back! Our second instalment of the year features author, playwright, poet, columnist, and critic David Hill. Read on for his takes on hauntings, witches and giraffes! 1. Describe yourself in three words Vague, methodical, surprised. 2. During the height of adolescence, was it good changeover? I was the nation’s most gauche teenager. 3. Are you haunted by a particular memory? Yes— my inability as a 19-year-old to handle my mother’s slow dea

Here's our first Mahy Questionnaire of the year, featuring author, musician, and columnist Mary-Anne Scott. She tells us tall tales about her spontaneously honking horn, and how she transforms into an electrical kitchen appliance. 1. Describe yourself in three words Music, people, words. 2. During the height of adolescence, was it good changeover? No, I was trouble. 3. Are you haunted by a particular memory? I once told people on a boat that I could easily swim to shore. I ju

Here's a fresh instalment of the Margaret Mahy Questionnaire, featuring author, playwright, poet and creative writing tutor Helen Vivienne Fletcher! Read on for her takes on discombobulation, changeovers and sonsense nongs! 1. Describe yourself in three words Breathing. Persevering. Laughing. 2. During the height of adolescence, was it good changeover? I struggled very badly with severe depression and anxiety as a teenager, so adolescence was a difficult time. It led me to wh

The latest addition to our growing collection of Margaret Mahy Questionnaire responses comes from the amazing Tim Tipene! Tim has written a deeply thought-provoking Reckoning for us in the past – as well as an ever-growing number of his own books, of course. And now, you can read on to find his answers to our beloved set of questions. 1. Describe yourself in three words Warrior and Master. 2. During the height of adolescence, was it good changeover? No, it was a very rough an

You know it, you love it – it's the Mahy Questionnaire! This month we are featuring the prolific Donovan Bixley. Bixley, along with Darryn Joseph and Keri Opai was shortlisted for the Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for Te Hīnga Ake a Māui i Te Ika Whenua this year, and he was the 2017 winner of the Arts Foundation – Mallinson Rendall Illustrators Award. His most recent book is How Māui Slowed the Sun / Te Whakatautōnga A Māui I Te Rā (Upstart Press). 1. Descri

You know it, you love it – it's the Mahy Questionnaire! This month we are very lucky to be able to feature Lani Wendt Young, who as we publish this piece, is on the Storylines Story Tour in Auckland. Lani was the ACP Poet Laureate in 2018, and has many novels to her name and some not to her name, most recently the Telesā series of books, of which the fourth book is out in September from OneTree House. 1. Describe yourself in three words Fiapoto x 3. 2. During the height of ad

You know it, you love it – it's the Mahy Questionnaire! This month, we delve into the world of the author-illustrator with Terry Fitzgibbon. Terry illustrates his own stories and those of others, with his most recent picture book Coo-Coo Kereru out now. Without further ado, here's Terry on changeovers, hauntings and lions in meadows. 1. Describe yourself in three words Wholehearted enthusiastic romantic. 2. During the height of adolescence, was it good changeover? Totally! D

For the third instalment of our shiny new Mahy Questionnaire, we thought we had better select an author who has a career in books in common with Mahy. Gareth Ward aka. The Great Wardini of Wardini Books also has a new book, The Clockill and the Thief, releasing at the end of July. 1. Describe yourself in three words Struggles with simple instructions . 2. During the height of adolescence, was it good changeover? I think I was quite grumpy and moody during my adolescence, alt

For the second instalment of our shiny new Mahy Questionnaire, we thought we had better select an author who we knew would construct some brilliant answers. So we went to none other than famed Roadworks author Sally Sutton. Sally's latest book, The Cat From Muzzle, is out now – and her latest online words and witticisms are below! 1. Describe yourself in three words What? Wow! Impossible. 2. During the height of adolescence, was it good changeover? I’m a late developer. I’l

The Sapling had been thinking for some time about how best to honour the late, great Margaret Mahy. Suddenly it hit us: A Questionnaire, along the lines of the NZ Book Council's Mansfield Questionnaire, and the Proust Questionnaire. So we asked Bridget Mahy if she would write one for us, and this is the result. We are delighted to present to you, the very first Margaret Mahy Questionnaire, featuring Harsu and the Werestoat author Barbara Else. 1. Describe yourself in three wo