Christobel Mattingley: Australia ★ Author

“It is indeed a privilege to have written books by which children find the path leading to lifelong fulfilment through reading.”

Christobel Mattingley

Christobel Rosemary Mattingley (nee Shepley) was born in Brighton, Adelaide, South Australia in 1931, and has been writing stories since she was eight years old. Her first pieces were published in magazines and newspapers on the children’s pages. She attended the University of Tasmania, earning a first class honors degree in German in 1951, after which she began working as a librarian and teacherlibrarian in Australia and England. Eventually she turned to writing full-time, and by 1974 she was a self-employed writer. During the 1980s, she worked with Aboriginal people to research South Australian Aboriginal history, which resulted in one of the foundation texts in the field, Survival in Our Own Land (1988).

Mattingley has shown talent for a diverse range of writing projects, writing articles, film scripts, short stories, poetry, and 45 children’s books. She has published 50 books overall in the 41 years she has been an author. Some of her books have been made into films by the Australian Broadcasting Association. Mattingley’s work reveals her efforts for conservation and social activism, dealing with pressing issues such as the plight of refugees and Australian Aboriginals. She began dealing with these issues before it was considered desirable or acceptable to do so. Her stories also speak to children on a personal level because they include experiences that children can relate to, and are written in a manner that is easy to understand, especially for children who are transitioning from picture books to novels.

Christobel Mattingley has, since her first book The Picnic Dog (1970), evinced a passionate commitment to subtly articulating and provoking debate via the prism of artfully constructed language. She was a “groundbreaker” in writing for young Australian readers’ books which dealt with issues such as the environment and war. She has been awarded many honors including the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s inaugural Junior Book of the Year Award for Rummage in 1982. The Angel with a Mouth-Organ (1984), the first book on war published for children in Australia, received a 1986 US Parents’ Choice Foundation Award. The Miracle Tree was Christian Children’s Book of the Year 1986 in Australia, an IYL White Raven in 1986, and included in the Horn Book Fanfare List of Best Books of the Year in 1987. Her Asmir trilogy (1993–1996) about a Bosnian refugee family has been widely acclaimed. Maralinga: The Anangu Story was shortlisted for the 2010 New South Wales Young People’s History Prize. She received an International Youth Library Scholarship (1976) and was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for literature and social justice (1996). She has promoted peace and international understanding in many of her forty-five works for children.