Dame Lynley Stuart Dodd (born 5 July 1941) is a New Zealand children's book author and illustrator. She is best known for her ''

Hairy Maclary and Friends ''Hairy Maclary and Friends'' is a series of children's picture books created by New Zealand author and illustrator Dame Lynley Dodd. The popular series has sold over five million copies worldwide. The character Hairy Maclary made his first app ...

'' series, and its follow-ups, all of which feature animals with rhyming names and have sold over five million copies worldwide. In 1999, Dodd received the

Margaret Mahy Award The Margaret Mahy Award, officially the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal and Lecture Award, is a New Zealand literary prize presented to a person who has made a significant contribution to children's literature, publishing or literacy. Presented ann ...

. She was appointed a

Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

in the

2002 New Year Honours New Years' Honours are announced on or around the date of the New Year in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supplements to the London Ga ...

, redesignated as a

Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Life and career

Dodd was born in

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

in 1941. She was an only child and lived with her parents in

Kaingaroa Forest Kaingaroa Forest covers 2900 km² of the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand, and is the largest forest plantation in New Zealand, and the second largest in the Southern Hemisphere (after the 6000km² Sabie/Graskop plantation in South Afri ...

, near Taupo. She was educated at Iwitahi School and

Tauranga College , motto_translation = I take up the work and I carry it through , coordinates = , type = State Secondary school , established = 1958 , MOE = 121 , principal = Andrew Turner , decile = 6N , years = 9 – 13 , upp ...

. Dodd graduated from the

Elam School of Art The Elam School of Fine Arts, founded by John Edward Elam, is part of the Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries at the University of Auckland. Students study degrees in fine art with an emphasis on a multidisciplinary approach. The schoo ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

with a diploma in Fine Arts, and became an art teacher spending five years teaching at Queen Margaret College in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. While there she met her husband Tony; he died in 2014 after an illness. After their marriage she began to work as a freelance illustrator. Her first book was '' My Cat Likes To Hide In Boxes'', published in 1974, which she wrote along with Eve Sutton. Her first book written solo was ''The Nickle Nackle Tree'' (1976). In 1983 the first book in her ''Hairy Maclary'' series, ''

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy ''Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy'' first published in 1983, is the first and most well-known of a series of books by New Zealand author Lynley Dodd featuring Hairy Maclary. His adventures are usually in the company of his other dog friend ...

'', was published. It was followed by '' Hairy Maclary’s Bone'' (1984), '' Hairy Maclary Scattercat'' (1985), ''Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Caper'' (1987), '' Hairy Maclary's Rumpus at the Vet'' (1989) and '' Hairy Maclary's Showbusiness'' (1991). The first, third, fourth and sixth of these all won the New Zealand Children's Picture Book of the Year Award; the second and fifth were shortlisted but did not win. In 1997, Dodd was the screenwriter for a TV series based on the ''Hairy Maclary'' series featuring 10 five-minute episodes narrated by

Miranda Harcourt Miranda Catherine Millais Harcourt (born 1962) is a New Zealand actress and acting coach. Harcourt's acting career began playing boy characters on Radio New Zealand in the early 1970s. She is best known for her role as Gemma in the 1980s TV dr ...

. In 2005 her book ''The Other Ark'' won the Children’s Choice Award at the

New Zealand Post Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder W ...

. In 2015 a waterfront sculpture of Hairy Maclary and other characters from the books was officially unveiled in

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

by former New Zealand prime minister

John Key Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th prime minister of New Zealand, Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to ...

. In an episode of the

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

series ''

Goodnight Kiwi The ''Goodnight Kiwi'' is an animated short which has been used to signal the end of nightly broadcasts on Television New Zealand channels. The ''Goodnight Kiwi'' features two characters: the eponymous Goodnight Kiwi (later also called TV Kiwi), ...

'', airing on 25 December 2019, the prime minister

Jacinda Ardern Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...

read ''Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy''. Dodd lived in Tauranga.

Honours and awards

In 1990, Dodd was awarded the

New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal The New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal was a commemorative medal awarded in New Zealand in 1990 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was awarded to approximately 3,000 people. Background The New Zea ...

. In 1999, she became the ninth recipient of the

. She was appointed a

in the

, for services to children's literature and book illustration. Following the re-introduction of titular honours by the New Zealand government, she accepted redesignation as a

Books

*1973 – '' My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes'' *1976 – ''The Nickle Nackle Tree'' *1978 – ''Titimus Trim'' *1982 – ''The Apple Tree'' *1982 – ''The Smallest Turtle'' *1983 – ''

'' *1984 – ''Hairy Maclary's Bone'' *1985 – ''Hairy Maclary Scattercat'' *1986 – ''Wake Up, Bear'' *1987 – ''Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Caper'' *1988 – ''A Dragon In A Wagon'' *1989 – ''Hairy Maclary's Rumpus at the Vet'' *1990 – ''

Slinky Malinki Slinky Malinki is a fictitious cat who features in the Hairy Maclary children's stories written by New Zealand author Lynley Dodd. Slinky Malinki ''Slinky Malinki'', first published in 1990, is one of a well-known series of books by New Zealand a ...

'' *1991 – ''Find Me A Tiger'' *1991 – ''Hairy Maclary's Showbusiness'' *1992 – ''The Minister's Cat ABC'' *1993 – ''Slinky Malinki Open The Door'' *1994 – ''Schnitzel von Krumm’s Basketwork'' *1995 – ''Sniff-Snuff-Snap'' *1996 – ''Schnitzel von Krumm Forget-Me-Not and Hairy Maclary Six Stories'' *1997 – ''Hairy Maclary SIT'' *1998 – ''Slinky Malinki Catflaps'' *1999 – ''Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack'' *2000 – ''Hedgehog Howdedo'' *2001 – ''Scarface Claw and The Apple Tree and Other Stories'' *2002 – ''Schnitzel von Krumm, Dogs Never Climb Trees'' *2004 – ''The Other Ark'' *2005 – ''Zachary Quack Minimonster'' *2006 – ''Slinky Malinki's Christmas Crackers'' *2007 – ''Hairy Maclary's Hat Tricks'' *2008 – ''The Dudgeon is Coming'' *2009 – ''Hairy Maclary, Shoo'' *2012 – ''Slinky Malinki Early Bird'' *2017 – ''Scarface Claw - Hold Tight!''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodd, Lynley 1941 births Living people New Zealand children's writers Elam Art School alumni People from Rotorua New Zealand women children's writers 21st-century New Zealand writers 20th-century New Zealand writers Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit 20th-century New Zealand women writers 21st-century New Zealand women writers Writers who illustrated their own writing