Diana Wynne Jones, 1934-2011

Review by Michele Bolay

Diana has been gone for 5 years as of March 26. Her books, however, will live on forever.

“Writing for adults, you have to keep reminding them of what is going on. Children you only need to tell things to once.” ~ Diana Wynne Jones

The world lost one of its best fantasy writers with the death of Diana Wynne Jones in March 2011. Her writing was so good that, not only did it sell well, it became popular with children, teens, adults, and other fantasy writers, and several of her children’s and teen books (and the all-ages nonfiction book The Tough Guide to Fantasyland) are now regarded as modern classics. She was friends with Neil Gaiman, and Jones and Gaiman were both fans of each other’s work; she dedicated her novel Hexwood to him after something he said in a conversation that inspired a key part of the plot. Gaiman had already dedicated his 1991 four-part comic book mini-series The Books of Magic to “Four Witches”, of whom Jones was one. Continue reading →