Literary Birthday – 27 May – Marijane Meaker

Marijane Meaker was born on 27 May 1927 and died on 21 November 2022.

Marijane Meaker Quotes

1. Obstacles are challenges for winners and excuses for losers.
2. Strangers take a long time to become acquainted, particularly when they are from the same family.
3. Anyone with any trouble at all eventually found his way to a city library, and the really troubled ones became regulars.
4. It was like picking up a book and reading the things the main character did and said and his description and thinking vaguely, at first, Why, I’m that way a little. Then more, until the realisation comes like a giant boulder down the hill and crashes into you, pulverising you with the knowledge that this is you, this character.
5. We are what we are. We don’t have to define it or label it.
6. Once you know something is wrong, you’re responsible, whether you see it, or hear about it, and most particularly when you’re a part of it.
7. When I get nervous, I go to the library and hang around. The libraries are filled with people who are nervous. You can blend in with them there.

Marijane Meaker was an American novelist and short story writer in several genres. Her novels included Scott Free. She also used different pen names. From 1952 to 1969, she wrote 20 mystery and crime novels as Vin Packer. In 1972, she switched genres and pen names once more to begin writing for young adults, and became quite successful as M.E. Kerr, producing over 20 novels and winning multiple awards, including the American Library Association’s lifetime award for young adult literature (Edwards Award).

Source for Image: Marijane Meaker, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marijane_Meaker_in_2007.jpg

by Amanda Patterson

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