Lynley Dodd is an award-winning author and creator of national icon Hairy Maclary.
Lynley Dodd is an award-winning author and creator of national icon Hairy Maclary.
LYNLEY DODDAuthor1941
Award-winning author and creator of national icon Hairy Maclary
When his parents brought him to New Zealand, Prince George received a book from then Prime Minister, John Key, and his wife, Bronagh. As an ambassador for the Blind Foundation, Bronagh handed Prince William and hismother, the Duchess of Cambridge, a "touch and feel" Hairy Maclary book for their firstborn. Little surprise when Rotorua-born Lynley Dodd's Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy has become one of our most iconic children's book characters.
Dodd, who holds a diploma in fine arts from Elam School of Art, began her career as an art teacher at Queen Margaret College. In 1973, she worked with author Eve Sutton, illustrating My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes. This, and reading to her own children, spurred Dodd to write and illustrate her own books, with four, including The Nickle Nackle Tree, appearing in the next few years. In 1981, Dodd won the New Zealand Book Award for her illustrations in Clarice England's Druscilla.
In 1983, Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy was published and Dodd found herself with a hit on her hands. Five subsequent Hairy Maclary books were all shortlisted for the Children's Picture Book of the Year Award which Dodd won in 1984, 1986, 1988 and 1992. She continued writing other stories – books about cats Slinky Malinki and Scarface Claw are as much loved as those about Hairy Maclary.
In 1999, Dodd received the Margaret Mahy Award and, in 2002, was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. A number of her characters have featured in stage shows adapted from her stories while Tauranga, where Dodd now lives, is home to a Hairy Maclary and friends waterfront sculpture.
