I'm a little behind, I hadn't realized that Lloyd Alexander passed away on May 17th, 2007. His most well-known novels are children's literature, with The Chronicles of Prydain being his most famous work. This five-volume series of children's fantasy novels detail the adventures of a young man named Taran, who is awarded the honor of Assistant Pig-Keeper but dreams of being a grand hero. His companions are Princes Eilonwy, Fflewddur Fflam the wandering bard and king, a feral creature called Gurgi, and a dwarf named Doli. The first two books in the series formed the basis of the Disney animated film The Black Cauldron.
Alexander lived a simple life and he was a wonderful, compulsive eccentric. He kept three event calendars but rarely left the house. He composed on a manual typewriter, replacing it with an identical machine when it wore out and buying another for a spare. He wrote the first draft of his grocery shopping list on Sunday, refined it on Monday and Tuesday, so it was polished by the time he arrived at the supermarket on Wednesday, promptly at 9 a.m. Friends asked to describe Lloyd's greatest traits would reply "kindness" and another stated "he never took himself pompously". He never charged for a speech and he answered the never ending stream of fan mail, personally, the day it arrived.
Alexander's last novel, The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio, is set for publication in August 2007. "I have finished my life work," Alexander said about the book before he died. To find out more about Lloyd Alexander click on http://www.lloydalexanderbooks.com/
Susan
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