Joan North
Joan Marian North (15 February 1920 – 1999) was a UK writer of children's books. Although set in the contemporary real world, North's stories deal with incursions into our world of mysterious powers or influences, which often lead to her young protagonists learning a greater sense of their true selves. As Searles, Meacham and Franklin say in A Reader's Guide to Fantasy, "The mental and spiritual attitudes of her protagonists influence greatly their success or failure."

Biography

Born in Hendon, London, Joan North was the daughter of metallurgist Frank Wevil North and Gladys May Paybody. She was educated in England, Wales, and China, and went to King's College, London. She served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War II, and worked as a nurse, and a social worker, also working for the BBC, and for the Tate Gallery's publications department. She married C. A. Rogers, Astor Professor of Mathematics at the University of London, in 1952, with whom she had two daughters, Jane and Petra.

Bibliography
Emperor of the Moon (1956)
The Cloud Forest (1965, 1966 in the US)
The Whirling Shapes (1967)
The Light Maze (1971)

The Light Maze was shortlisted for the Mythopoeic Award.

Notes and references

Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, Volume 2 by R. Reginald, Douglas Menville, Mary A. Burgess, 1979
Reader's Guide to Fantasy by Baird Serales, Beth Meacham and Michael Franklin, 1982

External links
 Black Gate Blog - "Joan North, The Cloud Forest, The Whirling Shapes, and The Light Maze", by Matthew David Surridge
 

1920 births
English children's writers
English fantasy writers
1999 deaths
20th-century English novelists
20th-century British short story writers
British expatriates in China