| Mary Hoffman was born in a "dull little town" which grew up around the railways. Her father worked for the railways, as did all the males of the family on both sides. Just before she was three, her family moved to London, where her father had a job in an office under the ground at Waterloo (which could only be reached by a maze of subterranean passages). At Primary School she wrote plays which her friends performed.
When she passed the 11+, Mary went on to a scholarship to an independent girls' school in Dulwich — which was a big culture shock.
In 1964 she went up to Cambridge (Newnham College) to read English Literature and in 1968-70 took a diploma in linguistics at University College London. In 1970 she started writing her first book, which was published in 1975 as White Magic. Since then, she has written more than eighty books for children, including the picture book Amazing Grace, the Stravaganza series of novels and the anti-war anthology Lines in the Sand. |
© Jessica Barber
To download a 300dpi version of this picture please click here |
The first of the Stravaganza novels, City of Masks, was her longest book since the first (which was incidentally set in Italy). But City of Flowers is longer still.
Mary married Stephen Barber in 1972, who is half-Indian, and they have three daughters. The eldest one, Rhiannon Lassiter, is a published writer of Science Fiction/Fantasy. The second is an actor (Rebecca) and the third (Jessica) is training to be an architect.
Mary and Stephen moved from London to a big old converted barn in West Oxfordshire in early 2001 and most of City of Masks was written in Mary's lovely new study there, which is green and white, with French windows onto the garden, a silver mask on the notice board and a vase of peacock feathers in the fireplace.
The sequel, City of Stars, was published in September 2003. Mary had a terracotta tile of a flying horse, bought in Siena to inspire her while she was writing it, and a shield featuring the ram of the Valdimontone district of that city, where the Palio race is held twice each summer. The third book in the series, City of Flowers, was started in Florence in October 2003 (see Mary's Florentine Diary on www.maryhoffman.co.uk) and published in March 2005.
Mary still attends Italian literature classes each week in Oxford, produces four issues of the children's book review magazine Armadillo every year and reads voraciously.
If you have a question or comment regarding the Stravaganza series, you can e-mail Mary at MaryHoffman@stravaganza.co.uk.
But please note that Mary receives such a volume of e-mails that she can answer them only once a week, and often can't quite manage to do it even that regularly so do not be surprised if you do not get a reply by return. She will not answer if your question is answered in the FAQs section, so please check there first, especially if your question is about further Stravaganza titles or a film.
You can also write to her c/o
Bloomsbury Children's Books
36 Soho Square
London
W1D 3QY
If your question refers to the publication dates of Stravaganza novels in specific countries, please direct it to the publisher, as Mary does not have this information. |
