Merrion Frances Fox AM (; born 5 March 1946) is an Australian writer of children's books and an educationalist specialising in literacy. Fox has been semi-retired since 1996, but she still gives seminars and lives in Adelaide, South Australia. Early life and education Merrion Frances Partridge was born in Melbourne on 5 March 1946 to Nancy and Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge. In October, her parents left Australia to become teaching missionaries of Hope Fountain Mission in Rhodesia, and Partridge and her two sisters grew up and were educated in Africa. She was the only white child at the mission school. After authorities found out, she was forced to go to an all-white school and was teased for having an African accent. After graduating high school, she did volunteer work in a conference centre of the World Council of Churches near Geneva, Switzerland. Partridge dreamed of pursuing a stage career. Her father reluctantly agreed to send her to an English drama school on the condition that she would attend Rose Bruford College in London, which also included a compulsory teaching degree. In 1965, she began three years at drama school and discovered that "she didn't really want to act, but she did want to be known." She also met fellow student Malcolm Fox. After marrying in 1969, they moved to Rwanda, then England and finally Adelaide, South Australia. Their daughter Chloe was born in 1971. Career In Adelaide, Fox applied for a radio job at ABC. She only had irregular parts in radio plays, and began teaching as she did not get paid enough money. By 1973, Fox had signed up to teach drama full-time at Sturt's Teachers University. Possum Magic When her daughter was seven, Fox decided to take a course in children's literature at Flinders University because of Chloe's love of reading. One of the assignments was to write a children's book, for which Fox wrote a story named Hush the Invisible Mouse. Her professor encouraged her to publish it, and it was illustrated by Julie Vivas, a student in the art department. It was rejected nine times over five years before Omnibus Books accepted it, but asked her to rewrite it more lyrically, cut two-thirds of the story and change the mice to possums. In 1983, the book was published as Possum Magic. It follows Hush, a possum whose Grandma Poss turns him invisible to protect him from