Many children who grew up in Ōtautahi Christchurch during the 1970s and 80s remember attending one of Margaret Mahy’s storytime sessions at the Canterbury Public Library. This celebrated Aotearoa author and former librarian was beloved not only for her imaginative books for children and young adults, but for her captivating public persona, complete with rainbow wig. This 2008 portrait by Marti Friedlander captures an unexpected view of Mahy, turning away – perhaps befitting a writer who loved magic and the supernatural and described her approach as “tapping into the surprises lurking in the heart of everything”.

(Absence, May 2023)