Mal Peet made a huge impact in Wellington. I imagine he made an impact wherever he went – he was so alive. He made a lot of friends while he was here in New Zealand, and everyone loved him – great big warm teddybear of a man that he was – and he seemed to love everyone.
On their first day in the city he and Elspeth visited the Wellington Children’s Bookshop and became friends with John and Ruth McIntyre who run it. They had a launch there for Mysterious Traveller a month or two later, and when John and Ruth unpacked their stock of Night Sky Dragons last year they discovered it was dedicated to them. They were, of course, thrilled.
Mal had come to teach a third-year level workshop paper in Writing for Young Adults at Victoria University for the first half of 2013. Ten lucky students worked with him and benefited from his generosity, insight, kindness, wit, and devotion to finding the right word. He went to great lengths to try to understand what each person was trying to achieve, and to help them towards that, rather than encouraging clones. And he was so generous with his time – he was happy to see people as often as they wanted to consult him.
I remember he told the class that relationships came first and if he was asked for a strapline for a book by a friend, he would always say it was wonderful, regardless of what he really thought. He was warm, loving, and not at all precious. Most of all in class we laughed. He was very, very funny. We were so lucky to have that time with him.
But his impact went far beyond the workshop. He found publishers and agents for people, forged links, cooked meals, ate copious quantities of cheese and drank many bottles of red wine. Actually, he lived life like a man who values every minute.
