“Your Tern Now My Tern Later”: A Tribute to the Outlaw Writer Russell Hoban

Abstract

Russell Hoban died in December 2011. In this article, Victoria de Rijke celebrates this mysterious writer’s huge contribution to children’s literature over 52 years; a career which began and ended with two mythological books: The Mouse & His Child (1967) and Soonchild (2012). Published in CLE over the years, Hoban wrote about the importance of myth and the writer’s “outlaw self”. This piece explores his unique thinking about the craft of writing fantasy and actuality, and argues for books in “nameless categories” which children and adults can appreciate together.