Margery Fisher

Who was Margery Fisher?

Margery Lilian Edith Fisher 1913–1992 was a British literary critic and academic.

She was internationally renowned for her influence in promoting the importance of good literature for children. This came about through her books, world lecture tours and her own notable journal Growing Point. Her papers for the period 1937–1992 are held in the Department of Special Collections at the University of California.

She was born in Camberwell, London in 1913 but spent her schooldays in New Zealand before returning to England to take up a place at Somerville College, Oxford where she graduated with First Class honours in English. After graduation she taught English at a girls' school before moving to Oundle, an English public school for boys. She once confided that:

teaching straightforward boys, gently leading a football-thickie towards The Mayor of Casterbridge was far more enjoyable than dealing with devious girls as a new graduate before the war

By the 1950s, married to the British naturalist James Fisher and raising six children of their own, she was able to indulge her voracious passion for children's literature as a freelance book reviewer for magazines.