Wendy Boase (14 October 1944 – 15 March 1999) born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, she was one of the co-founders of the children's publishing company Walker Books. She held the position of editorial director of Walker Books until her death in 1999 from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. After her death Julia Eccleshare (Children's Book Editor of the Guardian newspaper and chairman of the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize) and Anne Marley (Head of Children's, Youth & Schools Services for Hampshire Library & Information Service) decided to create an annual award named the Branford Boase Award in commemoration of both Wendy Boase and her colleague

Henrietta Branford Henrietta Diana Primrose Longstaff Branford (12 January 1946 – 23 April 1999) was an English author of children's books. Her greatest success was '' Fire, Bed and Bone'' (1997), a historical novel set during the English peasants' revolt of 13 ...

who also died of cancer the same year. Wendy Boase helped

to write the novel

Fire, Bed, and Bone ''Fire, Bed, and Bone'' by Henrietta Branford is a historical novel for older children set at the time of the Peasants' Revolt. It was published by Walker Books in 1997. Branford won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lif ...

which won the

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author ...

References

External links

Information on the beginnings of the Branford Boase Award

Information on the Walker Books company history
1944 births 1999 deaths Australian editors Australian women editors Australian people of Cornish descent {{publish-bio-stub