HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Kaye Umansky (; born 6 December 1946) is an English children's
author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
and
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
. She has written over 130 books for children and her work ranges from picture books to novels. She is best known for the Pongwiffy & Jim Series.


Early life

Kaye Umansky was born in Plymouth,
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
. Her mother was a music teacher and encouraged her to play from a young age and her father was also a teacher who encouraged her reading. As an only child, Kaye wrote stories and plays, which she tried to get her friends to act in. After Kaye left school, she went to
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
to train as a teacher. Kaye enjoyed teaching music, drama and creative writing, but not mathematics. Alongside her husband, Kaye formed a soul band and played in the evenings and at weekends; she says they "never became rich and famous, but we had a lot of fun". She continued writing as a hobby and began writing full-time when her daughter was born.


Personal life

She lives in North London with her husband Mo, an engineer, they have been together over 30 years. She has a daughter called Ella. She has an extended family of step children and step grandchildren. She got two katen named: Jeremy and Heathcliff.


Career

Umansky got her first children's book published in 1986. The book was a collection of songs for children and was called Phantasmagoria. Kaye still writes music books, along with plays, poems, novels and picture books. But she is best known as the creator of Pongwiffy She cites
Richmal Crompton Richmal Crompton Lamburn (15 November 1890 – 11 January 1969) was a popular English writer, best known for her ''Just William'' series of books, humorous short stories, and to a lesser extent adult fiction books. Life Richmal Crompton Lambu ...
and
Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his '' Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first no ...
as two of her biggest literary influences and her style has been compared to that of Roald Dahl and Eva Ibbotson. In 2008, she was a judge for the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize for humorous children's literature.


Pongwiffy

Originally published by A & C Black, then in paperback by Penguin Books, the first ''Pongwiffy'' book, ''Pongwiffy: A Witch of Dirty Habits'', was published in 1987. They are now published by Bloomsbury Publishing and Pongwiffy's '21st Birthday' was recently celebrated with the release of the seventh title in the series, ''Pongwiffy: Back on Track''. They have been published in various countries in Europe. They have published as audio books, read by
Prunella Scales Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales (''née'' Illingworth; born 22 June 1932) is an English former actress, best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy '' Fawlty Towers'', her nomination for a ...
, and as a cartoon TV series of 13 episodes which was first aired on
ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...
between June & September 2002. Pongwiffy was voiced by Dawn French and Pongwiffy's best friend, Sharkadder, was voiced by
Jennifer Saunders Jennifer Jane Saunders (born 6 July 1958) is an English actress, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Saunders originally found attention in the 1980s, when she became a member of The Comic Strip after graduating from the Royal Central School of ...
. In 2010 a new Pongwiffy title appeared in a flip-book alongside a story by Phillip Ardagh as one of the official publications for World Book Day.


Bibliography

; Pongwiffy Series *''Pongwiffy ''(1987) *''Pongwiffy and the Goblin's Revenge'' / ''Broom-napped'' (1990) *''Pongwiffy and the Spell of the Year'' (1992) *''Pongwiffy and the Holiday of Doom'' (1994) *''Pongwiffy and the Pantomime'' (1996) *''Pongwiffy and the Spello-vision Song Contest'' (2003) *''Pongwiffy Back On Track'' (2009) *''Pongwiffy and the Important Announcement'' (2010) — published dos-à-dos with ''Grubtown Tales: The Great Pasta Disaster'' *''Tales from Witchway Wood: Crash 'n' Bang'' (2011) Elsie Pickles Series *''Witch for a Week'' (2017) *''Wish for a Witch'' (2018) *''Witches (Un)Welcome'' (2019) *''Witch in Winter'' (2019) Clover Twig * ''Clover Twig and the Magical Cottage'' (2009) * ''Clover Twig and the Perilous Path'' (2010) ;The 'Three' Series A series using traditional stories and music. *''Three Singing Pigs'' (1993) *''Three Rapping Rats'' (1996) *''Three Tapping Teddies'' (1998) *''Three Rocking Crocs'' (2006) ;The 'Curtain Up!' Series Plays written for primary school children, ages 5–12. *''Cinderella'' (1995) *''Noah's Ark'' (1995) *''The Emperor's New Clothes'' (1996) *''Sleeping Beauty'' (2000) *''The Snow Queen'' (2003) ;Sir Quinton Quest The story of an explorer and his faithful long-suffering butler, Muggins who go off on expeditions. *''Sir Quinton Quest Hunts the Yeti'' (1992) *''Sir Quinton Quest Hunts the Jewel'' (1994) *''The Yeti Hunts for Sir Quinton!'' (1993) ;The Giant Series Tales of Waldo the Giant and his beloved, Heavy Hetty. Illustrated by Doffy Weir. *''The Romantic Giant'' (1992) *''The Jealous Giant'' (1995) *''The Dressed Up Giant'' (1998) ;The Weirds Stories about the Weird Family. Illustrated by Chris Mould. *Meet The Weirds (2003) *Weird Happen-ings (2004) *Wildly Weird (2006) ;Sophie Rabbit Series Four stories about a Rabbit called Sophie, Illustrated by Anna Curry. *Sophie and Abigail (1995) *Sophie and the Wonderful Picture (1995) *Sophie and the Mother's Day Card (1995) *Sophie In Charge (1995) ;The Quest for 100 Gold Coins Series A four-part adventure about Nev Niceguy and his quest. *Donkey Ride to Disaster (1998) *Madness in the Mountains (1999) *Strange Days at Sea (2000) *No More Master Niceguy (2000) ;Story Street Series Books which were written for a Literacy Scheme in the UK, for 4-10 year olds. *The Magic Button - 2000 *Strange Street Again - 2000 *Aha! - 2000 *Jojo in the Jungle - 2000 *Dinosaur Adventure - 2000 *Moon Adventure - 2000 *Rope that Cow - 2000 *The Missing Shoes - 2000 *Pirates Ahoy! - 2000 *Clang! - 2000 *The Rubbish Monster - 2000 *Stop Thief! - 2000 *The Carnival - 2000 *Beyond Strange Street- 2000 *Soup with Obby - 2000 *Down the Rushing River - 2000 *Wizard Wagoo - 2000 *Up the Dizzy Mountain - 2000 *Gong! - 2000 *Poor Sam - 2000 *What a Mess - 2000 *I am Miss Cherry - 2000 *Pond - 2000 *Jumbo - 2000 *Sunita and the Wishing Well - 2000 ;PlayReaders Series Four short plays. *Bandybones (1986) *Little Sister (1986) *The Toymaker's (1986) *Litter Bugs (1987) ;4 Spooky Stories Four scary stories written in verse, the last is a compilation. *The Night I Was Chased By A Vampire (1994) *The Empty Suit Of Armour (1994) *The Bogey-men and the Trolls Next Door (1994) *The Spooks Step Out (1994) *The Night I Was Chased By A Vampire and other stories (2004) ;Nonsense Rhymes Collections of Rhymes, Illustrated by Chris Fisher. *Nonsense Counting Rhymes (1999) *Nonsense Animal Rhymes (2001) *Nonsense Fairytale Rhymes (2006) *Nonsense Rhymes Collection (three books in one) (2006) ;Wilma's Adventures The stories of Wilma, a Wicked Queen in training. *Wilma's Wicked Revenge (2000) *Wilma's Wicked Spell (2002) ;Goblinz Three stories of a gaggle of Goblins. *Goblinz (2002) *Goblinz Detectives Inc (2004) *Goblinz and the Witch (2005) ;Solomon Snow A mock-Victorian adventure of a young Solomon Snow, his friend Prudence, a six-year-old girl named Rosabella, and don't forget her cute little bunny, Mr. Skippy. *Solomon Snow and the Silver Spoon (2004) *Solomon Snow and the Stolen Jewel (2005) ;Jim Stories told in rhyme for 3-7 year olds. *Pass the Jam, Jim - 1992 *You can Swim, Jim - 1997 *Need a Trim, Jim - 1999 *This is Jane, Jim - 2002 *Three Days With Jim - 2001 ;Buster Gutt About a Pirate called Buster Gutt and his arch enemy Admiral Ainsley Goldglove. *Buster's Big Surprise - 2003 *Buster Gutt - 2003 *Buster and the Golden Glove - 2003 ;Other books *Big Iggy - 1987 *Phantas-magoria - 1987 *The Snow Queen - 2003 *Three Little Nativit-ies - 2006 *Let's Go To London - 2007 *I Am A Tree - 2006 *The Misfortunes of Captain Cadaverous - 1990 *Never Meddle With Magic Mirrors - 1993 *A Ruby, A Rug and a Prince Called Doug - 1995 *Horses' Holiday – 2005 *I Want A Pet – 2005 *He's Behind You - 2003 *Tin Can Hero - 1992 *Beyond the Beanstalk - 1997 *Hammy House of Horror - 1995 *Cruel Times - 2002 *Humble Tom's Big Trip - 2002 *Tiger and Me - 1991 *A Chair For Baby Bear - 2004 *Witches In Stitches - 1987 *The Fwog Pwince - the Twuth] - 1989 *King Keith and the Jolly Lodger - 1990 *King Keith and the Nasty Case of Dragonitus - 1988 *Do Not Open Before Christmas Day - 1992 *Trash Hits - 1990 *Tickle My Nose (infant action rhymes) - 1995 *Wiggle My Toes (infant action rhymes) - 2000 *My Very First Joke Book - 2004 *Prince Dandy-pants and the Masked Avenger - 2001 *Mick McMenace, Ghost Detective - 2003 *Dobbin – 1997 *I Don't Like Gloria - 2007


Awards

The 1993
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...
Book Award for ''Pongwiffy and the Spell of the Year''; the 1999
Times Educational Supplement ''Tes'', formerly known as the ''Times Educational Supplement'', is a weekly UK publication aimed at education professionals. It was first published in 1910 as a pull-out supplement in ''The Times'' newspaper. Such was its popularity that in 19 ...
Junior Music Book Award for ''Three Rapping Rats''; the 2005 Spoken Word Award for the audio version of ''The Silver Spoon Of Solomon Snow'', read by
Rik Mayall Richard Michael Mayall (7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was an English actor, stand-up comedian and writer. He formed a close partnership with Ade Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University and was a pioneer of alternative ...
.


References


External links


Kaye Umansky's homepagePongwiffy WebsiteAuthor Page at Bloomsbury Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Umansky, Kaye English children's writers Living people 1946 births Writers from Plymouth, Devon