Австралиялық балалар жазушысы мен педагог Мерион Фокс өмірі мен шығармашылығы

Australian academic and children's writer

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.

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. In 1983, the book was published as Possum Magic. It follows Hush, a possum whose Grandma Poss turns her invisible to protect him from the bush. Now considered a classic in Australian children's literature, Possum Magic is Australia's bestselling children's book.

In 1984, Fox's second book Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge was published by Omnibus Books. It follows a boy who helps his elderly neighbour recover her lost memory through gifts. The book Guess What? ranks number 66 on the American list of the 100 most challenged books 1990 to 2000. Groups and agencies can challenge a book to prevent it from being available to be read by the general public. The book has now been banned in Duval County, Florida on accusations that the book contains pornographic material. The specific section that troubled censors involves the main character taking a bath.

In 1981, while working in drama, Fox decided to retrain in literacy studies. She said: "Literacy has become the great focus of my life – it's my passion, my battle and my mission and my exhaustion".

Fox is married to teacher Malcolm Fox. Her daughter, Chloë Fox, is a former member of the South Australian House of Assembly. As she dislikes her given, legal name, Fox began using her nickname "Mem" around thirteen years of age.