Great Regulars: Winner of many of the world's

major children's prizes, including the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen medal, Mahy took the UK's Carnegie medal with her first two novels, The Haunting and The Changeover, both supernatural coming-of-age tales. She was also awarded the Order of New Zealand for her internationally acclaimed contribution to children's literature, which ranged from picture books to short stories and novels.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Children's author Margaret Mahy dies aged 76

~~~~~~~~~~~

But the situation is mushrooming: there's a list on GoodReads devoted to authors who have replied--angrily--to negative reviews, called "Author Temper Tantrums", and the STGRB site gives examples of authors who have apparently given up writing after being subjected to bullying on the site.

The intention of STGRB is to "out these bullies one by one, using online public information, screencaps, and other related, non-copyrighted pictures".

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Literary feuding sinks to new low

~~~~~~~~~~~

Book Ends, with the sadness of "she not here to tell us we're alike", Long Distance II, with its heartbreaking evocation of how his father couldn't accept his mother's death and "kept her slippers warming by the gas/put hot water bottles her side of the bed/and still went to renew her transport pass". And--this is what knocked me sideways--the slow, quiet ending to the poem: "I believe life ends with death, and that is all/You haven't both gone shopping; just the same/in my new black leather phone book there's your name/and the disconnected number I still call."

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Tears in a tent: rediscovering Tony Harrison's poetry

~~~~~~~~~~~