Notable adult and children's book author Joan Aiken, daughter of poet Conrad Aiken, died January 4 at age 79. Popular in both the U.K. and the U.S., Aiken wrote in a variety of genres, including fantasy for adults and children, as well as poetry, plays, horror and short stories. She is perhaps best known for her Wolves Chronicles series for children, which began with the novel The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. The third title in the series, The Whispering Mountain, won the Guardian's Children's Book Prize in 1968. She also won an Edgar Award in 1972 for Night Fall, a children's mystery.
Aiken wrote a total of 92 novels in her lifetime, 65 of them for children; she was published in the U.S. by Delacorte and Houghton Mifflin, among others. Her most recent book, Midwinter Nightingale, was published by Delacorte in June 2003. Her final book, The Witch of Clattering Shaws, will appear in spring 2005.
