Pamela Allen: Author receives nod for Who Sank the Boat?

Award-winning children’s author Pamela Allen has been writing about Mr McGee, the man who lived under a tree, for 35 years.

Children's author Pamela Allen.

Award-winning children’s author Pamela Allen has been writing about Mr McGee, the man who lived under a tree, for 35 years.

Later this year, the 89 year-old will release the latest iteration of the Mr McGee series.

“I was delighted to be doing it again,” she says, from her home in Auckland. “My husband died last year. And he was 100. And writing the book came after his death.”

As the New Zealander receives a Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours on Friday for significant service to literature, she reflects on a rewarding life.

“I’ve been very fulfilled in making the books. And now that I’m 89, nearly 90, coming to the end of my life, it’s very rewarding to be valued by the community that you spent your time writing for,” she said.

Ms Allen published her first children’s book Mr Archimedes’ Bath in 1980, and has since released more than 50 titles.

While Who Sank the Boat? is her most popular book, she says she has a special place in her heart for Bertie and the Bear.

Ms Allen began her career in children’s literature in Australia.

“I was looking for a job at the time that I got to Australia in 1978 or 1979 … like all feminists do,” she said. “I came from the crowd whose mothers were all at home. It wasn’t a working world for women.

“But by the time I was whatever, 45, the children were at school, I wanted a job … And I went looking to illustrate children’s books.

“The publishing house I went to didn’t have anything.

“So they sent me home and suggested I write for children and I got my start from there,” she said.

In 2005, she was awarded a New Zealand Order of Merit.