Margaret Balderson

{{short description|Australian novelist and children's writer}} {{Use Australian English|date=October 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}} {{Infobox writer  | name = Margaret Balderson | birth_name = | birth_date = 1935 | birth_place = [[Concord, New South Wales]] | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = novelist | language = English | nationality = Australian | ethnicity = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | notableworks = ''When Jays Fly to Barbmo'' | awards = [[Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers]] 1969 | years_active = 1968– }}

'''Margaret Balderson''' is an Australian novelist and writer for children who was born in [[Concord, New South Wales]] in 1935.<ref name=austlit>[http://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A41420 Austlit - Margaret Balderson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313213021/https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A41420 |date=13 March 2024 }}</ref> She won the 1969 [[Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers]] award for her [[debut novel]] ''When Jays Fly to Barbmo''.<ref name=ct1969>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136943729 "Book Council Award Winners", ''The Canberra Times'', 12 July 1969, p16] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307204401/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/136943729 |date=7 March 2023 }}</ref>

Balderson attended [[Fort Street High School]] before commencing library work. She undertook a working holiday to Europe in the 1960s and travelled to and worked in Norway where she gathered material for her debut novel.<ref name=ct1969 />

Following her return to Australia she worked as resident house-mistress and librarian at [[Frensham School]], Mittagong, NSW.<ref name=austlit />

== Novels == * ''[[When Jays Fly to Barbmo]]'', illustrated by Victor G. Ambrus (1968) * ''A Dog Called George'' (1975) * ''Blue and Gold Day'', illustrated by Roger Haldane (1979) * ''Sea Bird'' with Elizabeth Smith (2002) * ''Junkyard Dogs'', illustrated by Janine Dawson (2002)

== Awards == * 1969 – winner [[Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers]], ''When Jays Fly to Barbmo'' * 1969 – runner-up [[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]], ''When Jays Fly to Barbmo'' * 1976 – highly commended [[Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers]], ''A Dog Called George''

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balderson, Margaret}} [[Category:Australian children's writers]] [[Category:20th-century Australian writers]] [[Category:21st-century Australian writers]] [[Category:Australian women novelists]] [[Category:20th-century Australian novelists]] [[Category:1935 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:20th-century Australian women writers]] [[Category:21st-century Australian women writers]] [[Category:Writers from New South Wales]] [[Category:21st-century Australian novelists]]