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Nicholas Stuart Gray

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For the headmaster of Eton, see Nicholas Grey.

Nicholas Stuart Gray (23 October 1922, Scotland - 17 March 1981) was a British actor and playwright, perhaps best known for his work in children's theatre in England. He was also an author of children's fantasy; he wrote a number of novels, a dozen plays, and many short stories. Neil Gaiman has written that Gray "is one of those authors I loved as a boy who holds up even better on rereading as an adult".[1] Many other modern fantasy authors, such as Hilari Bell,[2] Cecilia Dart-Thornton,[3] Kate Forsyth,[4] Cassandra Golds,[5] Katherine Langrish,[6] Sophie Masson,[7] and Garth Nix,[8] cite Gray's work as something they enjoyed as children.

Perhaps his best-known books are The Seventh Swan and Grimbold's Other World. Gray often produced adaptations or continuations of traditional fairy tales and fantasy works, as in his Further Adventures of Puss in Boots. His The Stone Cage is a re-telling of Rapunzel from a cat's point of view. Over The Hills to Fabylon is about a city whose king has the ability to make it fly off across the mountains if he feels it is in danger.

Gray maintained a long-term collaborative relationship with set designer and illustrator Joan Jefferson Farjeon (niece [9] of Eleanor Farjeon and Harry Farjeon); she supplied the costume and scenic designs for many of the theatrical productions of his plays, as well as the illustrations of his books.

Selected children's plays

  • Beauty and the Beast (1951)
  • The Princess and the Swineherd (1952)
  • The Tinder Box (1954)
  • The Marvellous Story of Puss in Boots (1955)
  • The Imperial Nightingale (1957)
  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1969)

Other works

  • Over the Hills to Fabylon (1954)
  • The Other Cinderella (1958)
  • Down in the Cellar (1961)
  • The Seventh Swan (1962)
  • Grimbold's Other World (1963)
  • The Stone Cage (1963)
  • The Apple Stone (1965)
  • Mainly in Moonlight (1965)
  • The Boys: Cats With Everything (1968)
  • New Lamps for Old (1968)
  • The Further Adventures of Puss in Boots (1971)
  • The Edge of Evening (1976)
  • Killer's Cookbook (1976)
  • Facets: Poems and Pictures (1977)
  • The Wardens of the Weir (1978)
  • A Wind From Nowhere (1978)
  • The Garland of Filigree (1979)
  • The Sorcerer's Apprentices (1986)

References

  1. ^ Includes special guest review, Neil Gaiman, 26 November 2005, NeilGaiman.com
  2. ^ Author Interview with Hilari Bell from HarperCollins Publishers
  3. ^ Author Spotlight
  4. ^ Kate Forsyth's blog
  5. ^ Wheeler Centre page on Golds' "The Three Loves of Persimmon"
  6. ^ Katherine Langrish's 5 Favourite Books
  7. ^ Boomerang Books interview with Masson
  8. ^ Garthnix - Interview 1: Sabriel
  9. ^ Joan Jefferson Farjeon papers, 1860-1992: Houghton Library, Harvard College Library

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