Children's author Margaret Mahy has died at the age of 76.
Mahy, who wrote her first novel at the age of 7, was lauded for her work A Lion In The Meadow. She died in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Monday after a short illness.
She was awarded the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award for her lasting contribution to children's literature at the age of 70. She was also recipient of the Carnegie Medal and saw her work translated into 15 languages.
Blogger Graham Beattie paid tribute to Mahy online, calling her "one of New Zealand's greatest-ever writers".
A single mother-of-two, Mahy told One News how she combined working in a library by day with writing at night.
She said: "The children and I would read stories together and they'd go to bed. And then I worked all night drinking cup after cup of black coffee."