Joan de Hamel

Joan de Hamel (31 March 1924 – 28 July 2011) was a New Zealand children's writer. She grew up in London, England and later moved to the Otago Peninsula.

Personal life Joan de Hamel married Francis de Hamel in England in 1948, and moved to New Zealand with her physician husband and first three children, Michael, Christopher and Geoffrey (William) in 1955. Her next two sons, Richard and Quentin, were born in 1960 and 1963. Her second son is the author, British academic librarian and expert on mediaeval manuscripts Christopher de Hamel, the author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts. Joan's husband Dr Francis de Hamel outlived her by three years, dying in New Zealand in 2014.

Other books written include: X Marks the Spot (1973) The Third Eye (1987) Hideaway (1992) Hemi and the Shorty Pyjamas (1996)