Monica Hughes

Monica Hughes
Born	November 3, 1925(1925-11-03) Liverpool, England
Died	March 7, 2003(2003-03-07) (aged 77) Edmonton, Canada
Occupation	Author
Genres	Children's Literature
Notable award(s)	Vicky Metcalf Award, Alberta Culture Juvenile Novel Award, Bay's Beaver Award, Alberta R. Ross Annett Award
Spouse(s)	Glen Hughes
Children	Elizabeth, Adrienne, Russell, Thomas

Monica Hughes, OC (November 3, 1925 – March 7, 2003), was an English-Canadian science fiction author.^[1]

Background

Before immigrating to Canada, from China, Monica Hughes lived in many different countries, including Egypt, Scotland, England and Zimbabwe.^[2] She was the daughter of Edward Lindsay and Phillis Ince. Both her parents worked at the University of Liverpool, where her father was a mathematician and her mother a biologist.^[3] She married Glen Hughes on April 22, 1957 and together they had 4 children.^[4] Before becoming a writer, Hughes had many other careers. She was a dress designer in London England,^[5] and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe between the years 1948-1949.^[4] She was also a bank clerk in 1951, and a laboratory technician from 1952 to 1957.^[4] Monica Hughes is known as one of Canada's best writers for children and young adults, having a hard time reaching maturity or adulthood. The central theme in many of her books is science fiction.^[6] She is a writer who has written over 35 books for young people. One of her first book was called "Crisis on Conshelf Ten". Hughes attended Edinburgh University from 1942-1943. While in school, Hughes obligations to school were interrupted because of World War II.^[6] She joined the Military service, the Women's Royal Naval Service, from the years 1943-1946,^[7] cracking German codes. After returning from the war, Hughes went back to school to study Meteorology. When not writing or not in school, Hughes was said to enjoy swimming, walking, gardening and beachcombing. In her school years, her teachers always encouraged her to write and join essay writing competitions.^[5] Monica Hughes has repeatedly been called "Canada's finest writer of science fiction for children", by critic Sarah Ellis in the The Horn Book Magazine.^[3] She spoke 5 languages including Mandarin.

Books

Monica Hughes has written over 30 books, and has nearly won almost every award for young adult fiction. Hughes is best known for her Isis trilogy novels. Even though Hughes spent a large portion of her life writing, she didn't get any of her work published until the 1970s.^[6] Hughes first published work was entitles Gold-Fever Trail: A Klondike Adventure, which was a Canadian historical adventure.^[8] Hughes final work, published in 2002, was entitled The Maze. The Maze is a story about a female protagonist who must rescue herself and two bullies with her from a maze they were magically put in.^[6] One of the main reasons why Hughes began writing books, mainly focused on young adults, was because she was bored with China life.^[5]

Bibliography

• The Maze
• Gold Fever Trail: A Klondike Adventure, 1974.
• Crisis on Conshelf Ten, 1975 (series: Crisis on Conshelf Ten).
• The Ghost Dance Caper, 1978.
• Earthdark, 1977 (series: Crisis on Conshelf Ten).
• The Tomorrow City, 1978.
• Beyond the Dark River, 1979.
• The Keeper of the Isis Light, 1980 (series: Isis).
• The Guardian of Isis, 1981 (series: Isis).
• The Isis Pedlar, 1982 (series: Isis).
• Ring-Rise Ring-Set, 1982.
• The Beckoning Lights, 1982.
• The Treasure of the Long Sault, 1982.
• Hunter in the Dark, 1982.
• My Name Is Paula Popowitch, 1983.
• Space Trap, 1983.
• Devil on My Back, 1984 (series: Arc One).
• Sandwriter, 1985 (series: Sandwriter).
• The Dream Catcher (series: Arc One).
• Blaine's Way, 1986.
• Log Jam, 1987.
• Spirit River, 1988.
• The Promise, 1989 (series: Sandwriter).
• The Refuge, 1989.
• Invitation to the Game, 1990.
• The Crystal Drop, 1992.
• The Golden Aquarians, 1995.
• Castle Tourmandyne, 1995.
• Where Have You Been, Billy Boy?, 1995.
• The Dirty Car, 1996.
• Lost at the School Fair, 1996.
• The Seven Magpies, 1996.
• The Faces of Fear, 1997.
• Skyways: Copymasters (with Betty Root), 1998.
• The Story Box, 1998.
• What If...? (editor, anthology), 1998.
• The Other Place, 1999.
• Storm Warning, 2000.

References

1. ^ "Hughes, Monica". The Canadian Encyclopedia. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0003890. Retrieved 7 March 2010. 
2. ^ Who's Who in Canadian Literature. Reference Press. 1997. p. 365. 
3. ^ ^{a b} SF Canada, Obituary, Winter 2003]
4. ^ ^{a b c} Lang, Robert, ed (1996). Contemporary Canadian Authors. Gale Canada. p. 215. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} eNotes, Authors: Monica Hughes
6. ^ ^{a b c d} The Canadian Encyclopedia, Monica Hughes
7. ^ Brief Biographies, Monica Hughes
8. ^ Lang, Robert, ed (1996). Contemporary Canadian Authors. Gale Canada. p. 216. 

External links

• Monica Hughes in the Canadian Encyclopedia
• Monica Hughes at Fantastic Fiction
• Monica Hughes at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Monica Hughes at Brief Biographies

Persondata
Name	Hughes, Monica
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1925-11-03
Place of birth	Liverpool, England
Date of death	March 7, 2003
Place of death	Edmonton, Canada