Today, spread a little marmalade out in honor of a fallen icon of children’s literature. According to The Guardian, Michael Bond, the children’s book author who created Paddington Bear, has died.
He was 91.
Born in Newbury, England, in 1926, Bond published the first book in his famed series, A Bear Called Paddington, in 1958. Publishing over 25 titles in the Paddington franchise, Bond was quite prolific, publishing a number of other series books starring characters like Olga da Polga and Monsieur Pamplemousse.
“(It’s) wonderful that he’s left the legacy of his books and Paddington that will live on for ever, which is really very special….The whole world is lucky to have had him … Paddington himself is so real to all of us,” Bond’s daughter, Karen Jankel, told The Guardian. “He’s still a part of our family and we’re very lucky.”
Bond was still writing right up until his death, publishing Paddington’s Finest Hour in the U.S. back in October.
Jankel added: “For him, writing was his life. It was wonderful he could continue writing until the end [because] Paddington and his other characters were so real to him, he became alive to everybody else.”
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