P. L. Travers

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PLT , poet, editor, essayist, critic, travel writer, and novelist, who was born in Australia but wrote mostly in England, is best known for her Mary Poppins books, generally classified as for children. All her life she was absorbed by myth, magic, and legend, both ancient and modern. Her work drew on the legacy of past myth makers and she herself left a legacy for today's writers like J. K. Rowling , creator of Harry Potter.
Black and white photograph of P. L. Travers playing the part of Titania in Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream", c. 1924. She perches on a log wearing a sleeveless tunic, with vine-leaves in her unruly curls, and flowers scattered around.

Milestones

9 August 1899
Helen Lyndon Goff (later PLT ) was born in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia. She was the eldest of three children, all girls.
The Orlando Project thanks Dr Patricia Demers for her assistance with this document.
Anemaat, Louise. Guide to the Papers of P L Travers: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, 1991.
By late 1934
PLT published Mary Poppins, the first in a sextet of novels that were destined to become international best sellers.
TLS Centenary Archive Centenary Archive [1902-2012].
(22 November 1934): 837
Demers, Patricia. P.L. Travers. Twayne, 1991.
xi
August 1964
Walt Disney released its award-winning movie adaptation of Mary Poppins by PLT in the USA; the British release happened a year later.
The Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
Anemaat, Louise. Guide to the Papers of P L Travers: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, 1991.
16 March 1989
The Aquarian Press published What the Bee Knows: Reflections on Myth, Symbol, and Story, a selection of essays and stories by PLT , previously published in Parabola.
Demers, Patricia. P.L. Travers. Twayne, 1991.
xii, 103
Baker, Rob. “A Writer Worth Her Salt”. A Lively Oracle: A Centennial Celebration of P.L. Travers, Creator of Mary Poppins, edited by Ellen Dooling Draper and Jenny Koralek, Published for the Paul Brunton Philosophic Foundation by Larson Publications, 1999, pp. 120 - 32.
132
Blackwell’s Online Bookshop.
23 April 1996
PLT died at her home, 29 Shawfield Street, Chelsea, London, at the age of ninety-six.
The Gurdjieff Society,. “Pamela Travers, 1899-1996”. Gurdjieff International Review.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Biography

Birth and Family

9 August 1899
Helen Lyndon Goff (later PLT ) was born in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia. She was the eldest of three children, all girls.
The Orlando Project thanks Dr Patricia Demers for her assistance with this document.
Anemaat, Louise. Guide to the Papers of P L Travers: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, 1991.

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