One of the serials that ran in the Children's Newspaper in 1964 was a reprint of Runaway Riders, originally published by The World's Work, of Tadworth, Surrey, in August 1963. The author was a 15-year-old Irish girl, Bernagh Brims.It's surprising how many popular pony writers began writing as young girls. Victor Watson, in Where Texts and Children Meet (ed. Eve Bearne & Victor Watson, London, Routledge, 2000) lists a number of young authors, amongst them Moyra Charlton, whose Tally Ho. The story of an Irish Hunter (1930) was begun when she was just 11 years old, Primrose Cumming, Garland Bullivant, Daphne Winstone, the Pullein-Thompson sisters, Kathleen Herald (K. M. Peyton), Catherine Harris and Lindsay Campbell, all of whom wrote publishable novels before the age of sixteen.
Bernagh Brims wrote a follow-up novel, which was published two years later. She later began working for the BBC Radio Ulster in Northern Ireland on children's educational programmes.
NovelsRunaway Riders, illus. Juliette Palmer. Kingswood, Surrey, World's Work, 1963.
Red Rosette, illus. Juliette Palmer. Kingswood, Surrey, World's Work, 1965.
Others (editor)
One Potato, Two Potato, illus. Duncan Smith. Belfast, Appletree Press, 1990.
Three Potato, Four, illus. Duncan Smith. Belfast, Appletree Press, 1990.
Five Potato, Six Potato, illus. Duncan Smith. Belfast, Appletree Press, 1992.
Seven Potato, More, illus. Duncan Smith. Belfast, Appletree Press, 1992.
(* The Children's Newspaper © Look and Learn Magazine Ltd.)
I think a big contributory factor was the fact that she was educated at home by a governess, engendering a love of history and writing, and a lifelong aversion to maths. It was probably no coincidence that the cousin who shared her lessons also became a best-selling author, under her married name, Sheila Bishop.
ReplyDeleteApologies - I seem to have lost the first part of my post, which said that Moyra Charlton was my mother, who did indeed start her first published book when she was 11.
ReplyDelete