Eve Pownall
Marjorie Evelyn "Eve" Pownall was an Australian writer for children and historian. Her best known work was The Australia Book. She was a founding member of the Children's Book Council of Australia, and the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books is presented each year by the CBCA in her honour.
Early life and education
Marjorie Evelyn Sheridan was born on 12 January 1902 in Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia, the eldest of three children. Her father was Percival Joseph Sheridan and her mother Evelyn Irene, née Lane. The family lived in Kiama, Windsor, Muswellbrook, and Sydney, where Eve attended North Sydney Girls High School.She undertook a secretarial course before finding work at Fox Film and then at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, until her marriage in December 1929.
Pownall began to review children's literature for Australasian Book News and Literary Journal, and later began writing children's fiction and non-fiction of her own. She was appointed an MBE in 1978 and was the first recipient of the Lady Cutler award for distinguished service to children's literature in New South Wales.
Pownall was a founding member of the Children's Book Council of Australia in 1945, and was associated with it for the rest of her life.
Recognition and honours
Pownall was appointed a Member of the British Empire in 1978, for services to literature.She was the first recipient of the Lady Cutler Award for Distinguished Services to Children's Literature in New South Wales.
The CBCA presents the annual Eve Pownall Award for Information Books in her honour.
For specific works
- 1952 – winner Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers for ''The Australia Book''
Personal life and death
She married Leslie Pownall in December 1929. The couple had two children.Pownall died at her home in Forestville, Sydney, on 15 November 1982.
Children's fiction
Nursery Rhymes Told Anew Squik the Squirrel Possum Cousins-Come-Lately : Adventures in Old Sydney Town Five Busy Merry-Makers Binty the Bandicoot- ''A Drover''