Archive for January, 2005

Life story

Thursday, January 27th, 2005

I was born in Melbourne, Australia, in March 1946, but left at the age of six months to go to Africa with my parents, who were missionaries. The mission we lived on, Hope Fountain, was a few miles from the city of Bulawayo, in Zimbabwe, which used to be called Rhodesia. In my first year […]

Ten read-aloud commandments

Thursday, January 27th, 2005

Mem Fox’s Ten Read Aloud Commandments
1. Spend at least ten wildly happy minutes every single day reading aloud.
2. Read at least three stories a day: it may be the same story three times. Children need to hear a thousand stories before they can begin to learn to read.
3. Read aloud with animation. […]

Possums’ Questions

Thursday, January 27th, 2005

I hope the information which follows answers a few, if not most of your questions. If you do have any more questions, leave them in the guestbook and I’ll answer them eventually, unless the answers are already elsewhere on the home page.
Question: Where do your ideas come from?
Answer: Real life, books, and feelings […]

Short bio for event introductions

Thursday, January 27th, 2005

Mem Fox was born in Australia, grew up in Africa, studied drama in England, and returned to Adelaide, Australia in 1970, where she has lived with her husband, Malcolm, and daughter Chloë, happily ever after.
Mem Fox is Australia’s most highly regarded picture-book author. Her first book, Possum Magic, is the best selling children’s book […]

Favourite books

Thursday, January 27th, 2005

Nineteenth century
Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion
Charlotte Bronte: Villette
Charles Dickens: Dombey and Son and A Tale of Two Cities
George Eliot: Silas Marner and Adam Bede
Thomas Hardy: The Mayor of Casterbridge
Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter
Balzac: Lost Illusions
Tolstoy: War and Peace
Flaubert: Madame Bovary
Stendhal: Scarlet and Black
Emile Zola La Bete Humaine
Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment and The Idiot
Later […]

Recipes

Thursday, January 27th, 2005

I put these two recipes on my website a million years ago. I have always been fanatical about eating sensibly and healthily, so I’m shocked to see TWO recipes only, and both to do with chocolate. Please clean your teeth afterwards and only make each recipe once every three months!
For recipes of some […]

So where does Mem live?

Thursday, January 27th, 2005

She lives in Adelaide, South Australia!
You should have a look at the SA Central website if you would like to know all about South Australia.
However, if you just want to see where Adelaide and South Australia are, you can find them on these two maps:

Loves and loathings

Thursday, January 27th, 2005

I love these things
My family and friends
World peace
A full moon
Green paper clips
Saturday mornings
ABC Radio National
Social justice
A clean kitchen sink
19th century novels
Singing alone in the car

I loathe these things
The effect of war on children
Untidiness
Brown clothes
Economic rationalism
Cleaning up dog vomit
Racial intolerance
Identical letters from a class
Land mines
Mobile phones in airport lounges
Right wing newspaper columnists

Who are the Foxes?

Thursday, January 27th, 2005

March 19, 2006. Adelaide, SA. Newly elected MP Chloe Fox with her author mother Mem Fox at Brighton the day after the SA state election. Pic. Sam Mooy. (With thanks to The Australian).

Chloë.

My dad and me, not long before he died
of Alzheimer’s.

My mother—Nan Partridge—and Chloë

My husband, Malcolm.

Mem’s peace file

Thursday, January 27th, 2005

Peace File

This peace file is not intended for children since too much of it is about the sadness of wars, and their causes and effects. My peace file is for adults, in particular those who believe in true democracy and real, fearless freedom of speech.
Mem Fox on David Hicks 12: 12: 06

Photo by Neville […]

Honours and awards

Thursday, January 27th, 2005

I’ve received an embarrassing number of awards over the years, and am extremely grateful for each of them:

The Dromkeen Medal for distinguished services to children’s literature 1990
An Advance Australia Award for an outstanding contribution to Australian literature 1991
A medal (AM) in the Australia Day Honours awards, for services to the cultural life of Australia, 1993
The […]