Maureen Mollie Hunter McIlwraith (30 June 1922 – 31 July 2012) was a Scottish writer known as Mollie Hunter. She wrote

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

for children, historical stories for young adults, and realistic

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s for adults. Many of her works are inspired by Scottish history, or by Scottish or Irish folklore, with elements of magic and fantasy.

Life

Born and raised near

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in the small village of

Longniddry Longniddry (, )
is a coastal village in East Lothian ...

, her final years were spent in

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

. A portrait of her hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Hunter's debut was ''Patrick Kentigern Keenan'', published by Blackie and Son in 1963 with illustrations by

Charles Keeping Charles William James Keeping (22 September 1924 – 16 May 1988) was an English people, English illustrator, children's book author and lithographer. He made the illustrations for Rosemary Sutcliff's historical novels for children, and he creat ...

. In the U.S. it was published in 1963 as ''The Smartest Man in Ireland''.

Awards

For '' The Stronghold'' Mollie Hunter won the 1974 Carnegie Medal from the

Library Association The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP, pronounced ) is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2002 as a merger of th ...

, recognising the year's best children's book by a

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

. The same novel, published in The Netherlands as "Een toren tegen de romeinen" won the "Zilveren Griffel" (Silver Pen) award in 1978 for children's writing. She won the

Phoenix Award The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one English-language children's book published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major literary award. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the boo ...

from the

Children's Literature Association The Children's Literature Association (ChLA) is a non-profit association, based in the United States, of scholars, critics, professors, students, librarians, teachers, and institutions dedicated to studying children's literature.Margaret W. Denman ...

in 1992, recognising ''A Sound of Chariots'' (1972) as the best children's book published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award. The

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

credits Hunter with a quotation regarding the word consensus: "No single group has the right to ignore a consensus of thoughtful opinion" onsensus ad idem: a protocol for development of consensus statements. Can J Surg 2013; 56 (6); 365 http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/30b550e2#/30b550e2/6/ref>

Works

Novels

* ''Patrick Kentigern Keenan'' (1963) : US title, ''The Smartest Man in Ireland'' *''The Spanish Letters'' (1964) * ''The Kelpie's Pearls'' (1964) *''A Pistol in Greenyards'' (1965) *''The Ghosts of Glencoe'' (1966) *''Thomas and the Warlock'' (1967) * ''The Ferlie'' (1968); also issued as ''The Enchanted Whistle'' (1985) * ''The Bodach'' (1970) : US title, ''The Walking Stones'' *''The Third Resistance'' (1971) *''The Lothian Run'' (1971) * ''The Thirteenth Member'' (1971) * ''The Haunted Mountain'' (1972) * '' A Sound of Chariots'' (Harper & Row, 1972) * '' The Stronghold'' (Hamilton, 1974) * '' A Stranger Came Ashore'' (Hamilton, 1975) * ''The Wicked One'' (1977) * ''The Third Eye'' (1979) * ''You Never Knew Her as I Did!'' (1981) *''The Dragonfly Years'' (1983) : US title, ''Hold on to Love'' *''The Knight of the Golden Plain'' (1983) *''I'll Go My Own Way'' (1985) : US title ''Cat, Herself'' *''Escape from Loch Leven'' (1987) * ''The Mermaid Summer'' (1988) *''The MidSummer Murders'' (1988) * ''The King's Swift Rider: A Novel on Robert the Bruce'' (1998)

Collections

* ''A Furl of Fairy Wind'' (1977)

Plays

*''Stay for an Answer'' (1962) *''The Captain'' *''A Love-song for My Lady'' *''The Walking Stones''

Picture books

*''Hi Johnny'' (1963) *''The Brownie'' (1986), illus. Mahri Christopherson *''The Enchanted Boy'' (1986), illus. Christopherson *''Flora MacDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie'' (1988), illus. Chris Molan * ''Gilly Martin the Fox'' (1994), illus. Dennis McDermott

Nonfiction

* ''Talent Is Not Enough: Mollie Hunter on Writing for Children'' (1976) * ''The Pied Piper Syndrome and Other Essays'' (1992)

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Mollie 1922 births 2012 deaths Scottish children's writers Scottish women novelists Carnegie Medal in Literature winners Writers from East Lothian 20th-century Scottish novelists 21st-century Scottish novelists 21st-century Scottish writers 20th-century Scottish women writers 21st-century Scottish women writers Swiss women children's writers Swiss children's writers 20th-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights Scottish women dramatists and playwrights British women writers of young adult literature British women historical novelists Scottish historical novelists British writers of young adult literature Writers of historical fiction set in antiquity