Mary Lassiter Hoffman (born 1945) is a British writer and critic. She has had over 90 books published whose audiences range from children to adults. One of her best known works is the children's book ''Amazing Grace'', which was a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' best-seller at 1.5 million copies and a finalist for the 1991

Kate Greenaway Medal The Kate Greenaway Medal is a British literary award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) ...

. From 2002 to 2012, she wrote the teen fiction series '' Stravaganza''.

Background

Born in Hampshire, England in 1945, Mary Hoffman was the youngest of three daughters. From a young age, she enjoyed going underground to visit the office of her father who worked for the railway. Hoffman won a scholarship to

James Allen's Girls' School James Allen's Girls' School, abbreviated JAGS, is an independent day school situated in Dulwich, South London, England. It is the second oldest girls’ independent school in Great Britain - Godolphin School in Salisbury being the oldest, founde ...

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of ...

. From there she went to the University of Cambridge to study English at

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicent ...

and then spent two years studying Linguistics at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. In 1998, she was made an Honorary Fellow of the

Library Association The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge management, knowle ...

for her work with children and schools. She worked at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

for nearly five years, contributing to courses for teachers on reading, language and children's literature. For eighteen years she was Reading Consultant to

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Writing

Richard Adams Richard George Adams (9 May 1920 – 24 December 2016) was an English novelist and writer of the books ''Watership Down'', ''Maia'', ''Shardik'' and ''The Plague Dogs''. He studied modern history at university before serving in the British Army ...

Rex Collings Rex Collings (18 June 1925 – 23 May 1996) was an English publisher who specialized in books relating to Africa and children's books. He ensured the publication of Wole Soyinka's plays, and was the first to publish ''Watership Down'' (1972) by Ri ...

Hoffman has written 24 picture books including the ''Amazing Grace'' series. When it was published, she received an award from

Waldenbooks Waldenbooks, operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain, from 1995 as a subsidiary of Borders Group. The chain also ran a video game and software chain under the name Waldensoftware, as well as a ...

. ''Amazing Grace'' was adapted to the stage by Shay Youngblood and ranked as one of the 50 best culturally diverse children's books by

Seven Stories Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children's Books is a museum and visitor centre dedicated to children's literature and based in the Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle upon Tyne, close to the city's regenerated Quayside. The renovated Victorian m ...

. The 2015 anniversary edition features an afterword by

LeVar Burton Levar Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host, best known for playing Geordi La Forge in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994). He also played Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries ''Root ...

. The illustrator,

Caroline Binch Caroline Binch (born 1947) is an English people, English illustrator and writer of Children's literature, children's books. Career Binch began working as a children's book illustrator in 1987, illustrating Therese Pouyanne's book ''Hippo''. S ...

, hired members of a family in Gambia as models for Grace and other characters. Hoffman has described the trip to visit them as her first trip to Africa. Hoffman began to focus more on teen fiction in the years since, becoming known for the ''Stravaganza'' series and the historical novel ''The Falconer's Knot'', which won the French Prix Polar Jeunesse and was shortlisted for

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

Children's Book Award and North East Teenage Book Award. Hoffman has written several re-tellings of myths, legends, fairy tales, nursery stories and biblical stories. These include ''Women of Camelot'', which tells the King Arthur stories from the points of view of the female characters. She has also edited collections of stories, including ''Lines in the Sand'' (2003) – a response to the allied invasion of Iraq, with all funds raised donated to

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

in Iraq. She was nominated for the

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award ( sv, Litteraturpriset till Astrid Lindgrens minne) is an international children's literary award established by the Swedish government in 2002 to honour the Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren (1907–200 ...

in 2011. Her works for adults are published under a variety of names including Amy Lovell, Suzy Cavendish and Mary Lassiter.

References

External links

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The Greystones Press
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Mary Lassiter
at LC Authorities, with 1 record {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Mary 1945 births Living people British children's writers British fantasy writers 20th-century British novelists 21st-century British novelists People educated at James Allen's Girls' School