For more than 20 years Frame had been annually nominated by PEN (the New Zealand Society of Authors) for the Nobel Prize for Literature. She was shortlisted twice, the second time in 2003, the year she was diagnosed with leukaemia. That year, along with Hone Tuwhare and her biographer Michael King, Frame was the recipient of an inaugural Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement.
Cecilia May Gibbs was a leading painter, illustrator, cartoonist and author, usually known by her second name, May.
Beverly Cleary created some of the most beloved children’s book characters of the 20th century. Writing about the children in her own neighborhood, Cleary’s stories of the rambunctious youth of Klickitat and Tillamook Streets have sold more than 91 million copies and changed the genre. For more than half a century, she wrote stories that allowed kids to see themselves in the books.