{{short description|NZ teacher, writer, educationalist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}} {{Infobox person | name = Edith Howes | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MBE|size=100%}} | image = Edith Annie Howes in 1900s.jpg | caption = in the 1900s | birth_name = Edith Annie Howes | birth_date = {{Birth date|1872|08|29|df=y}} | birth_place = London, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1954|07|09|1872|08|29|df=y}} | death_place = Dunedin, New Zealand | death_cause = | other_names = | known_for = Children's books | education = | employer = | occupation = | political_party = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Edith Annie Howes''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MBE|size=85%}} (29 August 1872 – 9 July 1954) was a New Zealand teacher, educationalist, and writer of children's literature. She was a Member of the Order of the British Empire and received the King George VI Coronation Medal for her services to literature.
==Family and education== She was born in London, England, one of five children of Cecilia Brown and William Howes, a post office clerk and accountant.<ref name="DNZB Howes" /> Her brother George became a noted entomologist.
The family emigrated to New Zealand when she was very young. She attended Kaiapoi Borough School, where she later became a pupil teacher.<ref name="DNZB Howes" />
==Teaching career== In 1893 she completed her training to become a teacher at Christchurch.<ref name="DNZB Howes" /> She taught at several different schools including Ashburton, Wanganui, and Makarewa before becoming the infant mistress at Gore School in 1899.<ref name="DNZB Howes" /> She eventually rose to be headmistress, remaining in that position from 1914 until 1917.<ref name="DNZB Howes" />
In 1917 she moved to the Wellington Girls' College, where she was the head of the junior department.<ref name="DNZB Howes" /> She stayed in this position until 1919, when she retired from teaching.<ref name="DNZB Howes" />
Howe was an early advocate for the Montessori method and the philosophy behind kindergartens.<ref name="DNZB Howes" /> She became known as an educational reformer, pushing for a less institutional learning environment featuring smaller class sizes and quieter, more comfortable classrooms.<ref name="DNZB Howes" /> She was a feminist who believed strongly that higher education was critical for women to participate fully in civic life.<ref name="DNZB Howes" />
thumb|Illustration for Howe's book ''Wonderwings'' by Alice Polson
==Writings== left|thumb|A recording of "Wonderwings" Howe began writing children's books around 1910, believing that stories and songs helped children to learn.<ref name="DNZB Howes" /> Although she worked in the genre of fairy tales, she saw that there was not enough written material on scientific subjects available to New Zealand schoolchildren, so she made a point of incorporating scientific information and natural phenomena into her books.<ref name="DNZB Howes" /> For example, in ''The Cradle Ship'' (1916) she offered a true account of where babies come from, making the book a minor landmark in sex education for children.<ref name=stafford/> She wrote some 30 books altogether, the best-known of which are ''Fairy Rings'' (1911) and ''The Cradle Ship'', which was translated into several other languages.<ref name="DNZB Howes" />
Howe also wrote for adults, including books on education (''Tales Out of School''; ''The Great Experiment''), plays, and an opera libretto.<ref name="DNZB Howes" /> Her play ''Rose Lane'' (1936) won a British Drama League prize.<ref name="DNZB Howes" />
In 1928, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature by professor of history Francis Prendeville Wilson of University of New Zealand.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=4332|title=Edith Howes|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-04}}</ref> The Nobel Committee stated that they have "not found any reason to call for the Nobel Prize" because "the proposal concerns a small educational book for children in a fairly appealing form."<ref name='Nobelpriset i litteratur'>{{cite book| url=http://libris.kb.se/bib/8345517| title=Nobelpriset i litteratur. Nomineringar och utlåtanden 1901–1950| first=Bo| last=Svensén| date=2001| publisher=Svenska Akademien| isbn=978-91-1-301007-6| accessdate=11 November 2020}}</ref>
In the 1935 King's Birthday Honours, Howes was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for public services,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34166 |date=3 June 1935 |pages=3611 |supp=y}}</ref> and in 1937 she was awarded the King George VI Coronation Medal.<ref name="DNZB Howes" />
She moved to Dunedin in 1941 and lived there until her death on 9 July 1954.<ref name="DNZB Howes" />
==Publications== * ''Fairy Rings'' (1911) * ''Where the Bell Birds Chime'' (1912) * ''Maoriland Fairy Tales'' (1913) * ''Stewart Island'' (1913) * ''The Sun's Babies'' (1910; illustrated by Frank Watkins) * ''Buttercups'' (1914) * ''The Cradle Ship'' (1916; illustrated by Florence Mary Anderson) * ''Tales Out of School'' (1919) * ''The Singing Fish'' (1921) * ''Wonderwings and Other Fairy Stories'' (1921; illustrated by Alice Polson) * ''The Rainbow'' (1922) * ''The Dream-Girl's Garden'' (1923; illustrated by Daisy Osborn) * ''Tales of Maori Magic'' (1928) * ''Silver Island'' (1928; illustrated by Kathleen Coales) * ''Safe Going'' (1931) * ''The Great Experiment'' (1932) * ''The Poppy Seed: And Other Nature Stories'' (1943) * ''Riverside Family'' (1944) * ''Marlborough Sounds: The Waters of Restfulness'' * ''The Long Bright Land: Fairy Tales from Southern Seas''
==References== {{Reflist | refs=
<ref name="DNZB Howes"> {{DNZB|Murray|Heather |3h39|Howes, Edith Annie |14 November 2016}}</ref>
<ref name=stafford>Stafford, Jane, and Mark Williams. ''Maoriland: New Zealand Literature, 1872–1914'', p. 155.</ref>
}}
==External links== {{Portal|Children's literature}} * {{Gutenberg author | id=9250| name=Edith Howes}} * {{FadedPage|id=Howes, Edith|name=Edith Howes|author=yes}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Edith Annie Howes}} * {{Librivox author |id=2318}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Howes, Edith Annie}} Category:1872 births Category:1954 deaths Category:English emigrants to New Zealand Category:New Zealand educators Category:New Zealand women educators Category:New Zealand women writers Category:New Zealand writers Category:Writers from London Category:New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire