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Eleanor Farjeon ( – ) was an English author of children's stories and plays, poetry, biography, history and satire. Several of her works had illustrations by Edward Ardizzone. Some of her correspondence has also been published. She won many literary awards and the Eleanor Farjeon Award for children's literature is presented annually in her memory by the Children's Book Circle, a society of publishers. She was the sister of the thriller writer Joseph Jefferson Farjeon. ==Biography== Eleanor Farjeon was born in London, England on 13 February 1881. The daughter of popular novelist Benjamin Farjeon and Maggie (Jefferson) Farjeon, Eleanor came from a literary family, her two younger brothers, Joseph and Herbert Farjeon, being writers, while the oldest, Harry Farjeon, was a composer. Eleanor, known to the family as "Nellie", was a small timid child, who had poor eyesight and suffered from ill-health throughout her childhood. She was educated at home, spending much of her time in the attic, surrounded by books. Her father encouraged her writing from the age of five. She describes her family and her childhood in the autobiographical, ''A Nursery in the Nineties'' (1935). She and her brother Harry were especially close. Beginning when Eleanor was five, they began a sustained imaginative game in which they became various characters from theatrical plays and literature. This game, called T.A.R. after the initials of two of the original characters, lasted into their mid-twenties. Eleanor credited this game with giving her "the flow of ease which makes writing a delight".〔Eleanor Farjeon, ''A Nursery in the Nineties'', Oxford, 1960. First published as ''Portrait of a Family'', Golancz, 1935.〕 Although she lived much of her life among the literary and theatrical circles of London, much of Eleanor's inspiration came from her childhood and from family holidays. A holiday in France in 1907 was to inspire her to create a story of a troubadour, later refashioned as the wandering minstrel of her most famous book, ''Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard''. Among her earliest publications is a volume of poems called ''Pan Worship'', published in 1908, and ''Nursery Rhymes of London Town'' from 1916.〔(Eleanor Farjeon – Farjeon Family Collection ). Dunedin Libraries. Retrieved 11 June 2012〕 During World War I, the family moved to Sussex where the landscape, villages and local traditions were to have a profound effect upon her later writing. It was in Sussex that the Martin Pippin stories were eventually to be located. At eighteen Eleanor wrote the libretto for an operetta, ''Floretta'', to music by her older brother Harry, who later became a composer and teacher of music. She also collaborated with her youngest brother, Herbert, Shakespearian scholar and dramatic critic. Their productions include ''Kings and Queens'' (1932), ''The Two Bouquets'' (1938), ''An Elephant in Arcady'' (1939), and ''The Glass Slipper'' (1944). Eleanor had a wide range of friends with great literary talent including D. H. Lawrence, Walter de la Mare and Robert Frost. For several years she had a close friendship with the poet Edward Thomas and his wife. After Thomas's death in April 1917 during the Battle of Arras, she remained close to his wife, Helen. She later published much of their correspondence, and gave a definitive account of their relationship in ''Edward Thomas: The Last Four Years'' (1958). After World War I Eleanor earned a living as a poet, journalist and broadcaster. Often published under a pseudonym, Eleanor's poems appeared in ''The Herald'' (Tomfool), ''Punch'', ''Time and Tide'' (Chimaera), ''The New Leader'' (Merry Andrew), ''Reynolds News'' (Tomfool), and a number of other periodicals. Her topical work for ''The Herald'', ''Reynolds News'' and ''New Leader'' was perhaps the most accomplished of any socialist poet of the 1920s and 30s. Eleanor never married, but had a thirty-year friendship with George Earle, an English teacher. After his death in 1949, she had a long friendship with the actor Denys Blakelock, who wrote of it in the book, ''Eleanor, Portrait of a Farjeon'' (1966). In 1951, she became a Roman Catholic.〔http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=6531735&page=gr . Find a Grave. Retrieved 21 June 2013.〕 During the 1950s she received three major literary awards. The 1955 Carnegie Medal for British children's books and the inaugural, biennial Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1956 both cited ''The Little Bookroom''.〔〔〔 The inaugural, 1959 Regina Medal from the U.S.-based Catholic Library Association marks "continued, distinguished contribution to children's literature".〔 Farjeon died in Hampstead, London on 5 June 1965.〔"Great Britons: twentieth-century lives". p.115. Oxford University Press, 1985. Retrieved 11 June 2012.〕 She is buried in the north churchyard extension of St John-at-Hampstead. The Children's Book Circle, a society of publishers, present the Eleanor Farjeon Award annually to individuals or organisations whose commitment and contribution to children's books is deemed to be outstanding. Her work is cited as an influence by the Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eleanor Farjeon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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