an interview with Mary Cadogan

Books Monthly: Thanks again for agreeing to be interviewed for Books Monthly, Mary – I'd like to wish you every success for the future.Dear Mary, thank you for agreeing to another interview, this time for Books Monthly! It was back in 2004 I last interviewed you for Gateway, and reading it again now it seems to me that we spoke at length about literature. I’d like to ask you a few more questions, but first a word about your new book, MARY CARRIES ON. Girls Gone By Publishers have done a magnificent job with this book, which is a joy to read and in fact a “must-read” for anyone with even a passing interest in children’s literature. I read it with almost as much enjoyment as I would have read one of those fantastic school stories you mention. But harking back to our previous talk, you said there was an autobiographical work in the pipeline. Is that still the case, and how are getting on with it?

Mary Cadogan: Yes – I am working on an autobiographical book but it frequently gets put on the back burner while I meet more urgent writing and speaking deadlines. However, I’m enthusiastic about it, as I feel my life has included intriguing happenings and brought me into contact with many interesting and colourful people from wide-ranging backgrounds.

Books Monthly: Since we last spoke, a number of children’s books have come onto the market attempting to fill the gap left by Harry Potter; some are school stories, none conventional school stories, of course, which is a real shame, but there are plenty of yarns about schools for children with special talents; I reviewed the first volume of Dean Lorey’s MONSTER ACADEMY a couple of months ago – I enjoyed it immensely. I wondered if you managed to keep up with the huge number of excellent children’s books published every month? You could always read Books Monthly, of course!

Mary Cadogan: Generally I’m pretty busy with family and friends, some educational charitable work and with writing, so I do not systematically keep up with all the new children’s books. As you say, I should keep in touch with Books Monthly about this!

Books Monthly: How long did it take you to write MARY CARRIES ON? You clearly enjoyed writing it, and it must have evoked a huge number of happy memories, looking at all those old books and comics. Was it commissioned?

Mary Cadogan: It’s hard to say because the book includes so much that I have been researching and writing about for years. After I talked with Clarissa Cridland of Girls Gone By Publishers about two years ago the book was commissioned. The actual writing, picture-research and so on was carried out over a six-month period. Yes, I enjoyed writing it enormously. It comprises “reflections in maturity” about children’s fiction, and producing it was an indulgence in nostalgia for me.

Books Monthly: Have you ever written a full-length school story? It’s my opinion that you, more than anyone else, would be in the best position to do it, and I’m sure there would be plenty of interest in such a book. I’ve read some of your stories in the anthologies that are knocking around – I’d be very surprised if you hadn’t written one!

Mary Cadogan: Strangely perhaps, no. I’ve enjoyed writing a few short school-based stories, but have never been tempted to tackle a full-length one. I suppose, in my heart-of-hearts, I feel that we have such a wealth of wonderful school tales from Angela Brazil, Elsie Oxenham, Dorita Fairlie Bruce, Elinor Brent-Dyer and others that there would be little hope of my coming up to their standards.

Books Monthly: What do you think of the stories people have written on the back of established series and authors? The latest “Chalet School” volume from GGBP has a list of books written by other people as sequels, and two or three people have written follow-ups to some of the Enid Blyton series – I love to read them, but they’re never quite as good as the originals. Do you have an opinion?

Mary Cadogan: I have read and been impressed by several of these books “by other hands”, but generally I prefer reading the output of the original authors.

Books Monthly: In our previous talk, I rambled on about Eric Fleming when I was actually meaning to talk about Eric Leyland, the “hack of all trades” as he described himself and as Jim Mackenzie writes about in his article in Gateway/Books Monthly. You must have wondered who on Earth I was talking about – Eric Fleming was a screen star, of course! My question at the time was to ask you how you conducted your research and if you used the internet. The question stands – do you now use the internet for any kind of literary research? This is probably what it’s best for; there are all sorts of things wrong with it, but generally speaking, you can find out about more or less anything on the web, and as a way of keeping in touch with people, it’s second to none!

Mary Cadogan: Eric Leyland made a big contribution to the boys’ fiction genre, though he was not one of my special favourites.  I do very occasionally use the internet for research but much prefer to go to first sources. Happily my own collection of children’s books and papers is vast and, after writing about the genre now for over thirty years, I more or less know to which books – and people – I need to turn for research information.

Books Monthly: You spoke about the famous authors you met and developed friendships with following correspondence with them – I can’t see that happening now, except at conventions, maybe. Is there a famous author, a favourite of yours you didn’t get to meet and would have liked to?

Mary Cadogan: It’s been a great joy to meet and communicate with so many authors of both children’s and adult stories. There are, of course, several writers I would have love to have met but didn’t manage to get in touch with. The one-who-got-away that I really regret was my great favourite Dorita Fairlie Bruce, the author of the Dimsie, Nancy and Springdale school stories. I corresponded with her in the 1960s and ‘70s and she invited me to visit her. But this meant travelling to Scotland which I couldn’t then do. By the time I got around to planning the trip there, she had died! This lost opportunity (described in detail in Mary Carries On) made me resolve that, in future, I would never let opportunities of meeting favourite authors pass me by.

Books Monthly: Did you get to read Duncan Maclaren’s LOOKING FOR ENID, which was a Gateway book of the month in November last year? What did you think of it? Not a conventional biography, but it certainly held my interest and opened a new avenue of “ENID EXPLORATION” for me.

Mary Cadogan: Sorry – no, I haven’t yet read Duncan Maclaren’s LOOKING FOR ENID.

Books Monthly: Are the beautiful illustrations in MARY CARRIES ON all from your own collection? How many books do you have in your collection now? Do you actively keep your eyes open for new additions of, say Dorita Fairlie Bruce titles?

Mary Cadogan: Most of the pictures are from my own collection. I’m afraid I have no idea of how many books and weekly papers I have in my collection now. One day I may add them up. Regarding new editions of established books, Girls Gone By produce fine reprints of many classic school – and other children’s - stories. I keep a lot of these, even though I have the originals, because they include informative introductions and articles which are not in previous editions of the books.

Books Monthly: When we last spoke, I mentioned that Anne Digby was finding it difficult getting TREBIZON republished; since then, I was happy to pass on her contact details to Vanessa at FIDRA BOOKS and two titles have now been reprinted, with more to follow. Are there any other school stories you would like to see reprinted by GGBP or FIDRA? I can read them till the cows come home, though it seems to me that both GGBP and FIDRA concentrate exclusively on girls’ school stories. I would like to see some Eric Leyland (got it right this time!), Totty (from the Commander Books), and I’d really, really like to see someone republish THE PASSION FLOWER HOTEL (written by Roger Longrigg, of course, though under the name of ROSALIND ERSKINE). It’s a little saucy, but it marks the graduation from the children’s school story to the adult school story, and is utterly harmless and charming.

Mary Cadogan: Yes, there are several other books which I would love Girls Gone By, Fidra, etc to publish. I keep in touch with Clarissa about this and am ever hopeful, but perhaps I should not name titles and authors at this stage.

Books Monthly: Can I ask what you’re working on now? Hopefully it’s that autobiography, and, of course, you promised me a piece for Books Monthly; but my guess is that you’re as busy now as you’ve ever been.

Mary Cadogan: I’m working long-term on two books – my autobiography and an account of my work over a fifty year period with the spiritual teacher, Krishnamurti. I spend a lot of time on short-term projects – editing Krishnamurti’s books, for example, and writing intros for various books, and features for magazines. I also give talks to a variety of groups and societies. I enjoy this, particularly for the instant feedback which it produces. My main subjects are different aspects of children’s fiction and popular culture. My most popular talk by far is Working for the BBC.

Books Monthly: Do you have any plans for an ad hoc issue of your STORY PAPER COLLECTORS’ DIGEST? Perhaps it could be resurrected as an internet magazine? I’d be happy to host it in Books Monthly, of course!

Mary Cadogan: I’m interested in what you say about “resurrecting” the Story Paper Collectors’ Digest as an internet magazine. However, my time of editing and producing it (twenty-one years) is definitely over. I also relinquished editing the Just William Society Magazine a couple of years ago, because I am at a time of life when I know I have to make serious choices about how I spend my writing and reading time. I think, however, that the internet and your Books Monthly, might provide opportunities for reprinting some of the articles that the SPCD has featured. Let’s discuss this some time.

Books Monthly: I think I’ll have to leave it there as I want to get this off to you today! If you care to answer any questions I haven’t asked, feel free to do so! I hope you enjoyed your eightieth birthday and have many more to come, with lots more very readable books and articles on children’s literature. Do take care, it was a huge pleasure for me to speak to you the other day! Thanks again for taking part. I hope you get to see Books Monthly each month from now on.

Mary Cadogan: Thanks for your kind birthday wishes. Yes, I really enjoyed my eightieth. Several celebrations are taking place – one organised by my husband, daughter and myself, and others by friends. It’s certainly the best birthday I’ve ever had!