RIP “Frances” author Russell Hoban
Prolific fantasy and children’s author Russell Hoban has died at the age of 86, reports the Associated Press.
The former illustrator, painter and decorated World War II veteran passed away in his adopted home of London on Tuesday night, Bloomsbury Publishing told the AP. The cause of death was not immediately available.
“Russell Hoban was a complete original,” Bill Swainson, his editor at Bloomsbury, told the AP. “People who only read his adult fiction don’t know he was also one of the great children’s writers of our time.”
Hoban is perhaps best known for his series of children’s books about an imaginative badger named Frances. A personal favorite, the series was originally illustrated by Garth Williams and later by Hoban’s first wife, Lillian.
Russell and Lillian Hoban also wrote and illustrated the book “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas,” which Jim Henson made into a classic 1977 TV movie.
In all, Russell Hoban wrote more than 50 children’s books.
In the 1970s, the Pennsylvania native turned to writing fiction for adults. His 1980 novel “Riddley Walker,” set 2,000 years in the future after a nuclear war has destroyed much of the world, is considered his masterpiece. The book relies on a language Hoban created, based on English, that characterizes the near-death of the human spirit.
Swainson told the AP that Hoban was productive until nearly the end of his life and had published a novel last year.
Swainson said the author is survived by his second wife Gundula and his children and grandchildren.
Our thoughts are with his family, friends and fans.
-BAM
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Rest in Peace Frances. He’s happy now in the Kingdom of GOD. His stories will be a memory of him that will remain in our hearts.