Lydia Pender was born in London in 1907. Her family moved to Sydney in 1920. After leaving school,
she worked as a typist and comptometrist in an accountancy firm. It was here that she met her
husband, Walter Pender. Lydia and Walter raised a family of four children during which time she
started writing poems and verse for her children. In 1943 some of her poems for children were
published in The School Magazine (NSW). This continued for about 18 months, after which Lydia
wrote nothing for the following 12 years as other responsibilities and interests took over her life.
Family was her primary focus, but she also chose to extend herself in other ways. She was a member
of the Hunter’s Hill Dramatics Club for over 35 years. She also learnt how to embroider and gave a
lot of time to that activity.
It wasn’t until 1957, at the age of 50, that she had her first book published. Marbles in my pocket (a
book of children’s verse), illustrated by Pixie O’Harris, was published by Nuri Mass. As a result of this
publication, she was inspired to write more poems for school magazines and start a new path of
writing picture books. Being unable to find a publisher of her first picture book in Australia, Lydia
refused to give up. She eventually found a helpful literary agent in the United States. This
perseverance resulted in her first three picture books being published by Abelard-Schuman in New
York and London. After her success overseas, she continued to remind Australian publishers of her
works. All three picture books were eventually published in Australia, even if it was 20 years after
their first publication. Lydia was a most determined person, as can be seen in so much of the
correspondence in this collection.
Her first love was always poems and verses. Her ideas often determined whether an idea became a
poem or a picture book. Her picture books were half prose and half poetry, a style that she made her
own. She was constantly receiving, over many years, letters requesting permission to include her
poems in anthologies. These requests came from as far away as Scotland, Canada, USA, England, and
Italy.
Her picture book, Barnaby and the horses, was translated into Dutch as a tribute to the Dutch
illustrator, Alie Evers. Poems to read to young Australians (which sold over 100,000 copies in
Australia) was also published in braille.
As a direct result of the publication of her books and membership of The Children’s Book Council of
Australia (CBCA), NSW Branch, Lydia was invited, for about 30 years, to numerous CBCA Book Week
events in Sydney and regional NSW. She had ten books published. Barnaby and the horses won the
NSW Premier’s Literary Award, Children’s Category in 1980. Sharpur the carpet snake achieved the
CBCA Picture Books, Highly Commended award in 1968. Lydia was awarded the Lady Cutler Award
for Distinguished Service to Children’s Literature in New South Wales, 1988. Lydia died in 2005 in
Sydney.
