Mahy's first book to be published, in 1969, was A Lion in the Meadow, which was discovered by American editor Sarah Chockla Gross, who published five of Mahy's stories as picture books, launching her international career.
"It was one of those romantic things that happen," Mahy said of her own discovery.
In 1980, Mahy became a fulltime writer and went on to win numerous awards and honours for her contribution to NZ and children's literature. She was appointed to the Order of New Zealand in 1993, and was made an honorary doctor of letters by the University of Canterbury.
She also won many of the world's premier children's book awards, including the Carnegie Medal and the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award.
Mahy continued to collect accolades, the most recent being the New Zealand Post Children's Book of the Year award in 2011, for The Moon and Farmer McPhee.
Mahy was known as a generous and humble person - she often visited schools and libraries, sometimes in fancy dress, thrilling children.
Her daughter Penny Mahy was reported today as saying the death was a "double whammy", after her mother's younger brother Frank died unexpectedly on Saturday. Penny Mahy said her mother had "one or two" books in the pipeline when she died, the Stuff website reported.
The Daily Post Whakatane reporter Katee Shanks noted on Facebook last night the Eastern Bay had lost two of its favourite sons/daughters in two days, following Sunday's death of Taneatua identity Rob Shaw.
"How very, very sad. RIP."
