Author Margaret Gill Latest News

"The Eye of the Mandala"

Awards.

Poetry.

Prize winner in “Top 100 Poets 2001” Forward Press

Prize winner in “Moods of Water” Ver Poets 2001

Highly Commended “Scarlet Epiphany” Writer’s Conference Winchester 2001

Poems published in first twelve anthologies of Forward Press from 2000- 2001

Children’s Novels.

First Prize for “Decree of the Amulet” Isle of Wight Writers’ Conference 2001

First Prize for “Return of the Quetzal” Winchester Conference 2003

Highly Commended “Earth Call” Winchester Conference 2003

First Prize for “Secret of the Scrolls” Winchester Conference 2005

Highly Commended “Brain Changers” Winchester Conference 2005

“Secret of the Scrolls” Long listed for Cinnamon Novel Award 2005

First Prize for “Secret of the Scrolls” Swanwick Writers’ Conference

2005 and winner of the Writers’ News Trophy for 2005.

Second prize for “The Eye of the Amulet” Winchester 2006.

Margaret Gill was born in South Yorkshire. Growing up in a small mining village she learnt early how to escape into the surrounding countryside to be alone with her love of wild flowers and open fields. She began writing poetry at an early age which was surprising as she came from a background where it was expected she would become a musician. Her mother taught music in the family home, so from morning until night she was surrounded by the sound of piano music, good ,bad and indifferent.
She learnt to play at the age of three and was playing in concerts organized by Wilson and Peck studios at the age of seven. As a teenager she was soloist in a public concert in which Rawicz and Landauer topped the bill.
But it was poetry, reading and writing that intrigued her most. She was determined to make writing her priority and wrote her first novel when she was fourteen. She never gave up hope that one day she would be a published writer. But eventually the pressures of teaching full time and rearing a family meant that hope gradually receded into the background.
It was only when she began teaching part time that, encouraged by her headmaster husband, she returned to her love of writing and has since written seven children's novels and most recently a trilogy for teenagers. The second in the series 'Secret of the Scrolls,' won first prize at the Swanwick Writers' Conference and the Writers’News trophy for 2005. The third book in the trilogy 'Eye of the Mandala' was inspired by the discovery of a 7th century Tibetan manuscript while on an Arts Council sponsored course for writers. It was placed in the top ten books in the Arts Council’s on line “YouWriteOn.” and has just won an award at the Winchester Conference in June 2006 for children of 12 +.
Yoga and meditation have always been keen interests and she trains teachers of Yoga at the Inner Healing School of Yoga in the Midlands where she hopes to start a course in spiritual healing next year.
Major themes in the teenage novels she writes involve dealings with the hypocrisy of people unable to see beyond their own narrow beliefs and to recognize what is truly good and valuable. Her protagonists are strong, adventurous characters who are prepared to go through hell, fire and flood to keep faith with their beliefs and to keep their promises to those they admire. They are passionate, perhaps sometimes misguided, but courageous to the bitter end.

Secret of the Scrolls Margaret Gill ISBN: 1845490673
*2005 Winchester Writers Conference first prize winner*