Margaret Balderson is an Australian novelist and writer for children who was born in Concord, New South Wales in 1935.Austlit - Margaret Balderson
/ref> She won the 1969 Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers award for her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

''When Jays Fly to Barbmo''."Book Council Award Winners", ''The Canberra Times'', 12 July 1969, p16
/ref> Balderson attended Fort Street High School before commencing library work. She undertook a working holiday to Europe in the 1960s and travelled to and worked in Norway where she gathered material for her debut novel. Following her return to Australia she worked as resident house-mistress and librarian at

Frensham School Frensham School is an independent non-denominational comprehensive single-sex preschool, primary, and secondary day and boarding school for girls, located at Mittagong, in the Southern Highlands region of New South Wales, Australia. Es ...

, Mittagong, NSW.

Novels

* '' When Jays Fly to Barbmo'', illustrated by Victor G. Ambrus (1968) * ''A Dog Called George'' (1975) * ''Blue and Gold Day'', illustrated by Roger Haldane (1979) * ''Sea Bird'' with Elizabeth Smith (2002) * ''Junkyard Dogs'', illustrated by Janine Dawson (2002)

Awards

* 1969 – winner Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers, ''When Jays Fly to Barbmo'' * 1969 – runner-up Carnegie Medal, ''When Jays Fly to Barbmo'' * 1976 – highly commended Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers, ''A Dog Called George''

References

Australian children's writers 20th-century Australian writers 21st-century Australian writers Australian women novelists 1935 births Living people 20th-century Australian women writers 21st-century Australian women writers {{Australia-writer-stub