Margaret Beames
Margaret Beames (born 18 October 1935) is a multi-award-winning author of children's books who lives in Feilding, New Zealand. Her first book was "The Greenstone Summer", published in 1977. Since then, she has had at least 35 books published. Awards. Beames' 2000 book "Oliver in the Garden" won the Picture Book category and the Children's Choice Award at the 2001 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, and was included in the 2000 Storylines Notable Books List (Picture Books category), and the White Ravens list, organised by the International Youth Library . Four other books of hers have been included on the Storylines Notable Books List: "Storm" on the 2000 Junior Fiction list; "Outlanders" on the 2001 Senior Fiction list; "Duster" on the 2003 Junior Fiction list; and "Spirit of the Deep" on the 2007 Young Adult Fiction list. Two of her books were finalists in the Junior Fiction category of the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards, "Archway Arrow" in 1997, and "The Shearwater Bell" in 1998. She was the University of Otago College of Education Writer in Residence in 2005. Personal life. Beames was born in Oxford, England, and  lived in Kenya for two years. In 1974, she came to New Zealand and has worked as a teacher for more than 30 years. She is married with two children and six grandchildren.