Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Children's author Jill Harris dies on Christmas Day


Mākaro Press in Wellington is sad to announce that author and friend Jill Harris passed away on Christmas Day in her 76th year. Her novel for young adults The Red Suitcase is an exciting time-slip story with a powerful war theme, which launched on Anzac Day this year. 

Into its second print run, The Red Suitcase has been well-reviewed, with the ODT reviewer declaring that in this year's rash of war novels you can't get better than TRS, John McIntyre of the Children's Bookshop calling it a 'really, really good read', and an upcoming NZ Books review saying TRS is 'plain-spoken, engrossing and moving'.

Jill has written three other novels for children: At the Lake, Missing Toby and Sil, which won an Honour Award in the NZ Post Book Awards and was a Notable Book. Author Raymond Huber says, 'Sil, which dramatises the natural life of a tui, is a remarkable creation which ranks alongside Philip Temple's kea novel, Beak of the Moon, in NZ fantasy.' 

Mākaro Press is working on Jill's final book: The Ephesus Liturgies, to be published early next year. It is a collection of services for Christians that are based on a contemporary understanding of the world, with a reflective essay by Lloyd Geering, and an introduction by Jill's husband and Ephesus Group founded Ian Harris.

Mākaro Press publisher, Mary McCallum, says, 'We are so very proud of Jill and glad we got to work with her. We'll miss her.' 

Photo credit Dompost.

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