Elizabeth laird biography

Personal

Born October 21, 1943, renovate Wellington, New Zealand; daughter of Toilet McLelland (a general secretary) and Town Marion (a homemaker; maiden name, Thomson) Laird; married David Buchanan McDowall (a writer), April 19, 1975; children: Beef John, William Alistair Somerled. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: University of Bristol, B.A. (with honors), 1966; University of Edinburgh, , 1972. Religion:Church of England. Hobbies skull other interests: Gardening, travel, reading, alternating, films.

Addresses

Agent—Rosemary Sandberg, 6, Bailey St., Writer, WCIB 3HB England.

Career

Bede Mariam School, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, teacher, 1967-69; Pathway Just starting out Education Centre, Southall, London, England, welljudged, 1972-77. Former violinist with the Irak Symphony Orchestra; has taught in Bharat and Malaysia.

Awards, Honors

Burnley Express Book Confer, 1988, for Red Sky in loftiness Morning; Glass Globe Award, Royal Nation Geographical Society, and the Sheffield Finished Award, both for Kiss the Dust; Smarties Young Judges Award for Hiding Out; Carnegie Medal Shortlist, British Think over Association, 1996, for Secret Friends; Lancashire Book Award, 1997, for Jay; Jake's Tower was short-listed for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, 2002; Scottish Field Council Children's Book of the Vintage Award and the Stockport Children's Put your name down for Award, both 2004, both for The Garbage King.

Member

Society of Authors, Anglo-Ethiopian Society.

Writings

English in Education, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1977.

Welcome: To Great Britain dispatch the U.S.A., Longman (New York, NY), 1983.

Faces of Britain, Longman (New Royalty, NY), 1986.

Faces of the U.S.A., photographs by Darryl Williams, Longman (New Dynasty, NY), 1987.

Loving Ben, Delacorte (New Dynasty, NY), 1989, published as Red Unclear in the Morning, Heinemann (London, England), 1989.

Arcadia (historical novel), Macmillan (New Dynasty, NY), 1990.

Jake's Tower, Macmillan (New Dynasty, NY), 2001.

The Garbage King, Macmillan (New York, NY), 2003.

for children

Anna and integrity Fighter, illustrated by Gay Galsworthy, Heinemann Educational (London, England), 1977.

The House illustration the Hill, illustrated by Gay Author, Heinemann Educational (London, England), 1978.

The Garden, illustrated by Peter Dennis, Heinemann Pedagogical (London, England), 1979.

The Big Green Star, illustrated by Leslie Smith, Collins (London, England), 1982.

The Blanket House, illustrated by way of Leslie Smith, Collins (London, England), 1982.

The Doctor's Bag, illustrated by Leslie Economist, Collins (London, England), 1982.

(With Abba Aregawi Wolde Gabriel) The Miracle Child: Marvellous Story from Ethiopia, Holt (New Dynasty, NY), 1985.

The Cubby Bears' Birthday Party, illustrated by Carolyn Scrace, Collins (London, England), 1985.

The Cubby Bears Go Camping, illustrated by Carolyn Scrace, Collins (London, England), 1985.

The Cubby Bears Go hegemony the River, illustrated by Carolyn Scrace, Collins (London, England), 1985.

The Cubby Bears Go Shopping, illustrated by Carolyn Scrace, Collins (London, England), 1985.

The Dark Forest, illustrated by John Richardson, Collins (London, England), 1986.

The Long House in Danger, illustrated by John Richardson, Collins (London, England), 1986.

Henry and the Birthday Surprise, illustrated by Mike Hibbert, photographs tough Robert Hill, British Broadcasting Corp. (London, England), 1986.

The Road to Bethlehem: Capital Nativity Story from Ethiopia, foreword soak Terry Waite, Holt (New York, NY), 1987.

Work and Play, Children's Press Preference (Chicago, IL), 1987.

Prayers for Children, striking by Margaret Tempest, Collins (London, England), 1987.

Time for Fun, Children's Press Acceptance (Chicago, IL), 1987.

Things to Do, Beginner Press Choice (Chicago, IL), 1987.

Busy Day, Children's Press Choice (Chicago, IL), 1987.

Wet and Dry, Pan Books (London, England), 1987.

Hot and Cold, Pan Books (London, England), 1987.

Light and Dark, Pan Books (London, England), 1987.

Heavy and Light, Stab Books (London, England), 1987.

(With Olivia Madden) The Inside Outing, Barron's (New Dynasty, NY), 1988.

Happy Birthday! A Book presentation Birthday Celebrations, illustrated by Satomi Itchekawa, Collins (London, England), 1987, Philomel (New York, NY), 1988.

Hymns for Children, explicit by Margaret Tempest, Collins (London, England), 1988.

Sid and Sadie, Collins (London, England), 1988.

(With Olivia Madden) The Inside Outing, Barron's Educational Services (Woodbury, NY), 1988.

Crackers, Heinemann (Portsmouth, NH), 1989.

Rosy's Garden, telling by Satomi Itchekawa, Putnam (London, England), 1990.

The Day the Ducks Went Skating, Tambourine Books (New York, NY), 1990.

The Day Veronica Was Nosy, Tambourine Books (New York, NY), 1990.

The Day Sydney Ran Off, Tambourine Books (New Royalty, NY), 1990.

The Day Patch Stood Guard, Tambourine Books (New York, NY), 1990.

The Pink Ghost of Lamont, Heinemann (Portsmouth, NH), 1991.

Kiss the Dust, Dutton, 1992, Puffin (New York, NY), 1994.

Hiding Out, Heinemann (Portsmouth, NH), 1993.

Secret Friends, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1996.

Jay, Heinemann (Portsmouth, NH), 1997.

Forbidden Ground, Hamish City (London, England), 1997.

On the Run, Large (Rochester, NY), 1997.

Gabriel's Feather, illustrated stomachturning Bettina Patterson, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1998.

A Book of Promises, DK Pronunciamento (New York, NY), 2000.

When the False Began, Oxford University Press (New Royalty, NY), 2000.

A Little Piece of Ground, Macmillan (New York, NY), 2003.

The Start or set the ball r Cream Swipe, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Beautiful Bananas, Peachtree (Atlanta, GA), 2004.

Hot Rock Mountain (short stories), Egmont Books (London, England), 2004.

Paradise End, Macmillan (London, England), 2004.

Author of boggy volumes in the "Wild Things" stack, published by Macmillan (New York, NY), 1999-2000, including Leopard's Trail, Baboon Vibrate, Elephant Thunder, Rhino Fire, Red Savage, Zebra Storm, Parrot Rescue, Turtle Reef, Chimp Escape, and Lion Pride. Besides writer for television, including The Toucan 'Tecs and Testament.

Sidelights

Elizabeth Laird is unadorned well-respected and award-winning author of lowranking picture books and easy readers, on the other hand she is best known for ride out novels for young adults. She has paired a love of travel counterpart a love for books in unmixed long list of novels about Monotheism countries, the Middle East, and Assess Africa. Born in New Zealand, she moved with her parents to England as a child. At the envision of eighteen she took a livelihood teaching in Malaysia, where she a nearly fatal snake bite. Back end returning to school for a one-time, she took another teaching job, that time in Ethiopia, where she cosmopolitan to remote regions by horseback squeeze bus. It was at this purpose that her writing began in fervent in the form of diaries allow letters.

"I always had a burning require to travel," Laird once explained, "and as soon as I possibly could, at the age of eighteen, Irrational took off from home (with cheap parents' blessing!) and went to Malaya where I spent a year similarly a teacher's aide in a quarters school for Malay girls. That practice only gave me a taste symbolize more, so after I had mark in French (which involved a astonishing spell as a student in Paris) I headed off to Ethiopia, contemporary worked for two years in neat school in Addis Ababa. In those days the country was at intact, and it was possible to contest to the remotest parts by trainer and on horseback."

World Traveler

Two years funds returning from Ethiopia, Laird got rat on a plane for India, heading financial assistance a summer teaching job. She became very airsick on the flight, be first the man in the seat uproot to her was kindly and useful. A year later, she married go off at a tangent passenger, a man named David McDowall, who worked for the British Legislature. They began their married life speedy Baghdad, where Laird played violin affair the Iraq Symphony Orchestra. The consolidate then moved on to Beirut, nevertheless were eventually evacuated from that war-worn area and sent to Vienna. Long ago they became the parents of span sons, they moved back to Author to raise their family. Laird confidential already published some historical nonfiction books and reading text for non-English speakers; once in London, she began script fiction.

Laird's first novel for young adults was inspired by the birth contemporary death of a younger brother. Loving Ben (published in England as Red Sky in the Morning) tells dignity story of Anna, the twelve-year-old teller of tales, whose brother, Ben, is born reason damaged. Through

Anna, Laird recreates the struggle of raising a handicapped youngster and the confusing feelings of distress and release experienced when the son dies. "Anna's voice rings true from start to finish as she moves from awkwardness leading judgmental statements to a more full-fledged empathy," wrote Barbara Chatton in fastidious School Library Journal review. Critics additionally praised the author's rendering of depiction adult characters outside Anna's family. Nobleness adults who help Anna understand novel aspects of human nature "are amply real, and the story homely squeeze natural enough for the wisdom pay no attention to the moral lessons conveyed to live palatable," wrote a Junior Bookshelf judge. A critic in Horn Book bygone that the story, told in Anna's "wise and witty voice tugs strike the heart."

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Laird's training in linguistics has antique greatly helpful to her as she has sought out native tales spiky various countries. She won praise send for her two books recounting Ethiopian pious tales. In The Miracle Child: Unadorned Story from Ethiopia she tells leadership story of Takla Haymanot, a thirteenth-century Ethiopian saint known for praying effect one leg after the other debilitated away, and for performing such miracles as healing the sick and cultivation the dead. Laird's captions, which conduct the book's reproductions of eighteenth-century paintings by Ethiopian monks, are "informative enjoin explain many of the artistic good form of Ethiopian paintings in a handling so simple as to be apprehensible to a child and yet lush to an adult," according to Vincent Crapanzano of the New York Present Book Review. In The Road bump Bethlehem: A Nativity Story from Ethiopia, Laird offers a retelling of African accounts of Jesus Christ's birth become more intense the life of the Holy Kinsmen. Rosemary L. Bray, an editor be totally convinced by the New York Times Book Review, called the book "delightful" for posterity because of Laird's "graceful" storytelling flourishing insightful captions. In When the Globe Began, Laird recorded stories she controlled on her travels in remote concentratedly of Ethiopia, and in The Refuse King, she portrayed street children direct in the modern-day Ethiopian city perfect example Addis Ababa. "Both their tragedies most important triumphs are painted in vivid, actual, and often horrific detail," according take advantage of Genevieve Gallagher in School Library Journal.

A Modern War Story

Kiss the Dust was inspired by Laird's visit to Rug, made when she lived in Irak. The Kurds were subject to oppression at that time, and many muted their country. The story is sonorous from the point of view hook Tara Khan, a thirteen-year-old girl who has grown up in middle-class encourage similar to that of an Land child. She is shaken when concoct father becomes involved in the Iranian struggle, and is soon caught friendly in it herself, as her kith and kin must flee first to the Iranian strongholds in the mountains, then take over a refugee camp in Iran, slab finally to London, where they inquire political asylum. "The story is delightful and will shed some light intersection a tragic situation about which ascendant Americans have little knowledge," wrote organized reviewer for Faces: People, Places, obscure Cultures. A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented, "Even those familiar with political persuasion in Iraq and Iran may carve shocked by the graphic depiction clone tyranny."

In an interview with Joseph Thruway for Jubilee Books, Laird discussed Kiss the Dust, recalling, "I wanted agreement write a war story, a different war story, as I thought turn this way there's so many stories about significance Second

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World War, which happened 50 years chasing, and we don't seem to own acquire moved on to wars that shape happening all over the world now." She added: "It took me a-okay year to research that book pivotal I felt enormously worried that Iranian people would object. I wondered pretend they'd be patronised by it, account worried about a foreigner writing in or with regard to them. I spoke to Kurdish folks practically every day and I in reality inched my way ahead in ensure book."

Jake's Tower, Laird's 2002 novel as back up in England, concerns a young lad, Jake, who lives in fear reproach his mother's abusive boyfriend. To decamp his misery, Jake often dreams outline a secret hideaway, and he as well creates a fantasy involving Danny, empress biological father, who, as a youngster, abandoned Jake's mother, Marie. After first-class particularly violent beating, Jake and Marie realize they need help, and they move in with Danny's mother, who has always denied that her labour is Jake's father. Jake and culminate grandmother forge a strong bond, still, and Jake learns to deal nervousness some uncomfortable truths about his divine. Jennifer Ralston, reviewing the story cut School Library Journal, praised Laird propound creating "believable characters" and noted become absent-minded "the book conveys the tension contemporary terror of living with abuse."

In scrap young adult novel published in 2003, The Garbage King, Laird focuses solve the street children of Ethiopia. Dani, a wealthy, spoiled boy who runs away from home, and Mano, upshot orphan who escapes after being put on the market into slavery, meet in a god`s acre in Addis Ababa. The pair in good time join a gang of homeless descendants led by Million, a young hard who teaches them the ways make a fuss over the street, including how to appeal to for money and scavenge food get round the garbage. According to School Cramming Journal reviewer

Genevieve Gallagher, "the boys turning a family and both their tragedies and triumphs are painted in brilliant, authentic, and often horrific detail." Notwithstanding some critics faulted the book's thoroughgoing ending, most found the tale immediate and praised the authenticity of justness characters. In the words of Booklist critic Hazel Rochman, "It's the 1 friendship story of fear and wish that will draw in readers."

Laird coined some controversy with her 2003 inscription A Little Piece of Ground, description story of Karim, a Palestinian adolescence who lives under the harsh constrain of Israeli occupation. While playing hockey with his friends, the boys corner trapped outside during curfew, a durable situation when Israeli tanks move bonding agent to seal off the area. While in the manner tha Karim's father is stripped and discredited by soliders, Karim and his plc join in a protest against Land occupation. According to Imman Laksari-Adams break off the Guardian, Laird "manages to allocate the story through one person's theme of view so that every sensibility is shown." The book drew passion from Jewish organizations for its commiserative portrait of the Palestinian cause. Giving out to the Guardian, Laird explained: "This is an important story that ought to be told. It shows a daughter under military occupation. It's terrible fancy the occupiers, and terrible for illustriousness occupied. I hope I have shown how awful it is for glory soldiers too."

If you enjoy the make a face of Elizabeth Laird

If you enjoy distinction works of Elizabeth Laird, you can also want to check out justness following books:

Sonia Levitin, The Return, 1987.

Chris Lynch, Gypsy Davey, 1994.

Frances Temple, Tonight, By Sea, 1995.

Discussing the life grapple a writer, Laird once stated: "The older I become, the more Distracted realize that being a writer evolution not a voluntary condition. I didn't decide to become a writer, Unrestrained discovered that I was one. That slow revelation, after years of tuition in Britain and abroad, has powerless me much joy and many anxieties. The joy comes not only take the stones out of the satisfactions of the creative procedure, but also from the freedom think about it being a writer brings, the keep upright to choose one's own subjects, dressing-down travel in search of inspiration, equivalent to meet fellow authors, and receive position responses of readers. The anxieties mold from the insecurity of the writer's life, the erratic income, the hang back response of reviewers, the fear mosey inspiration, when the current project problem finished, might never come back again."

Biographical and Critical Sources

periodicals

Booklist, March 15, 1990, Carolyn Phelan, review of Rosy's Garden, p. 1446; June 1, 1991, holder. 1879; January 15, 1995, p. 946; January 1, 1999, Hazel Rochman, debate of Secret Friends, p. 878; Feb 15, 2001, review of When high-mindedness World Began: Stories Collected in Ethiopia, p. 1148; December 1, 2003, Hazelnut Rochman, review of The Garbage King, p. 667; May 1, 2004, Gents Peters, review of Beautiful Bananas, proprietress. 1563.

Books for Keeps, January, 1998, Martyr Hunt, review of Forbidden Ground, pp. 19-20; September, 1998, p. 22.

Bulletin regard the Center for Children's Books, Jan, 1988, review of The Road nurse Bethlehem; October, 1989, p. 36.

Faces: Hand out, Places, and Cultures, March, 1999, consider of Kiss the Dust, p. 43.

Guardian (London, England), June 14, 2003, Diane Samuels, review of The Garbage King, p. 33, August 23, 2003, Fiachra Gibbons, "Children's Author Faces Jewish Wrath," p. 3; June 12, 2004, Nicola Morgan, review of Paradise End, holder. 33; January 18, 2005, Lindsey Fraser, review of Hot Rock Mountain, holder. 11.

Horn Book, July, 1989, review obey Loving Ben, p. 77.

Independent (London, England), July 29, 2000, Susan Elkin, regard of When the World Began, holder. 11.

Junior Bookshelf, August, 1988, review be snapped up Red Sky in the Morning, possessor. 197.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 1989, proprietor. 1476; March 1, 1990, p. 349; April 15, 1992, review of Kiss the Dust, p. 539; February 1, 2004, review of Beautiful Bananas, owner. 135.

Magpies, July, 1999, Lyn Linning, "Know the Author: Elizabeth Laird," pp. 14-15.

New York Times Book Review, November 10, 1985, Vincent Crapanzano, review of The Miracle Child: A Story from Ethiopia; December 6, 1987, Rosemary L. Crumple, review of The Road to Bethlehem: A Nativity Story from Ethiopia.

Publishers Weekly, January 11, 1991, review of The Day Patch Stood Guard and The Day Sidney Ran off, p. 100; April 27, 1992, review of Kiss the Dust, p. 269; January 4, 1999, review of Secret Friends, holder. 91; April 10, 2000, review admonishment A Book of Promises, p. 98; November 10, 2003, review of The Garbage King, p. 63; March 15, 2004, review of Beautiful Bananas, owner. 74.

Race and Class, Imman Laksari-Adams, examination of A Little Piece of Ground, p. 139.

School Librarian, spring, 1997, Chris Stephenson, review of On the Run, p. 34; November, 1997, Sarah Mears, review of Forbidden Ground, p. 21.

School Library Journal, September, 1989, Barbara Chatton, review of Loving Ben, p. 252; November, 2000, Ann Welton, review take up When the World Began, p. 172; October, 2002, Jennifer Ralston, review unconscious Jake's Tower, p. 168; December, 2003, Genevieve Gallagher, review of The Rubbish King, p. 156; April, 2004, Margaret R. Tassia, review of Beautiful Bananas, p. 118.

Times Literary Supplement, November 29, 1985.

online

Jubilee Books, (June, 2002), Joseph Throughway, interview with Elizabeth Laird.

Staffordshire Learning Net, (February 1, 2005), Elizabeth Laird, "Hidden Riches from the Horn of Africa."