While browsing through the net tonight, I found a link to a article about a new book that's coming out about P.L. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins. Here's the text of the article:
The story can be found at http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1010/p14s02-bogn.html
Trapped inside Mary Poppins
The creator of the nanny who dropped from the skies led a life with little magic of its own.
By Yvonne Zipp
Quick: Which wind brought Mary Poppins crashing into No. 17 Cherry Tree Lane? What kind of umbrella did she have? What was her bag made of? Who starred in the movie? Now, who wrote the books? (No fair peeking at the title.)
In terms of authors who are eclipsed by their creations, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had nothing to complain about compared with P.L. Travers, the Australian-born author of the eight "Mary Poppins" books. Like Doyle, Travers longed to be taken seriously as a writer, but felt her most popular character inhibited that. (Maybe she should have tried flinging the magical nanny, carpetbag and all, off Reichenbach Falls.)
As biographies of everyone from E. Nesbit to Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) have proved, caution is wise when delving into the life of a beloved children's writer. Travers is no exception. As Valerie Lawson shows in her book Mary Poppins, She Wrote
The creator of the nanny who dropped from the skies led a life with little magic of its own.
By Yvonne Zipp
Quick: Which wind brought Mary Poppins crashing into No. 17 Cherry Tree Lane? What kind of umbrella did she have? What was her bag made of? Who starred in the movie? Now, who wrote the books? (No fair peeking at the title.)
In terms of authors who are eclipsed by their creations, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had nothing to complain about compared with P.L. Travers, the Australian-born author of the eight "Mary Poppins" books. Like Doyle, Travers longed to be taken seriously as a writer, but felt her most popular character inhibited that. (Maybe she should have tried flinging the magical nanny, carpetbag and all, off Reichenbach Falls.)
As biographies of everyone from E. Nesbit to Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) have proved, caution is wise when delving into the life of a beloved children's writer. Travers is no exception. As Valerie Lawson shows in her book Mary Poppins, She Wrote
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