RIP Norma Fox Mazer

October 19, 2009

RIP Norma Fox Mazer

Much-loved author Norma Fox Mazer died over the weekend. The author of books for children and young adults was 78 years old.

Her titles are ones that haunted my library browsing experiences when I was younger: Out of Control; Taking Terri Mueller; Silver; A Figure of Speech (her second book; a finalist for the National Book Award); Up in Seth's Room; After the Rain (a Newbery Honor book); and many others. Her last book was published in May 2008: The Missing Girl, which School Library Journal called a "well-crafted thriller with mythic undertones." Mazer also wrote short stories.

Publisher's Weekly has a lovely remembrance of Mazer:

Students at the Vermont College of Fine Arts called her the Sultan of Structure for her unfailing expertise in that tricky arena, and those who worked with her marveled at her generous mentorship. Norma was ageless; her slight frame and whimsical braids, and her open, imaginative, curious and lively mind, gave her an air decades younger than her actual years. There was something magical about Norma; one felt happy to be around her.

School Library Journal's obituary quotes Mazer as true storyteller:

“I love stories. I'm convinced that everyone does, and whether we recognize it or not, each of us tells stories,” Mazer said. “A day doesn't pass when we don't put our lives into story. Most often these stories are of the moment. They are the recognition, the highlighting of our daily lives. In my own life, it seems that events are never finished until I've either told them or written them.”

Image Credit: Author's website (Mazer pictured reading at age six)

Posted at 06:34 PM in Literary Life | Permalink

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