Children's, teen author Lloyd Alexander dies

Last Updated: Friday, May 18, 2007 | 1:03 PM ET
CBC Arts

Prolific U.S. author Lloyd Alexander, best known for his Chronicles of Prydain series as well as other fantasy and adventure tales for children and teens, died Thursday.

Alexander, who was 83, suffered from cancer, said Jennifer Abbots, a spokeswoman for the author's publisher, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers.

The writer died at home in Drexel Hill, the Philadelphia suburb where he was raised. His death came about two weeks after that of his wife of more than 60 years, Janine Denni.

Over his career, Alexander wrote more than 40 books of juvenile fiction, often drawing inspiration from the mythology of Wales — where he was stationed for army service during the Second World War — as well as stories from Greece, ancient Persia and eastern Europe.

Alexander is best known for his six-book series The Chronicles of Prydain, a bildungsroman about a young pig-keeper who dreams of adventure and becoming a hero.

The fifth instalment of the series, entitled The High King, won the prestigious Newbery Medal for children's literature in 1969 and, in the 1980s, Disney adapted several of the stories into the animated film The Black Cauldron.

Other notable titles include his early time-travelling adventure TimeCat: The Remarkable Journeys of Jason and Gareth, the National Book Award-winning tale The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian, the American Book Award-winning novel Westmark (which eventually became a trilogy), and The Illyrian Adventure, which spawned his series about 19th-century heroine Vesper Holly.

Alexander had completed one final book — a Middle East-inspired adventure story entitled The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio — before his death. It is scheduled to be published in August.

That is a great loss to the literary world, but at least he lived a long life.

On a side note I find it interesting how often couples who have been married for very long periods of time tend to pass away very close to each other.

I read about this earlier this morning, and thought about posting it, but since I had no idea who he was (never heard of him or his books) I opted not to.