P.L. (Pamela Lyndon) Travers (1899-1996) had an amazing imagination even as a child, inspired by her love of reading — fairy tales included. She dropped out of school, finding it a bore. Travers grew up in Europe, but moved to Australia to start an acting career. She managed to get some roles, but couldn’t make a career out of it. Fortunately, when she moved back to England, she successfully started selling articles and poems to publications in English, New Zealand, and Australia.

Travers’ best-known work, Mary Poppins, came from a little story she made up while babysitting two young children. It first became a book and then a movie in 1964, and has had many sequels; it was even made into a musical. Mary Poppins is still one of the best-loved characters in children’s literature. Travers wrote many other children’s books, as well as books for adults, many focused on mythology.

Major Works

• Mary Poppins
• Mary Poppins Comes Back
• Mary Poppins in the Park
• What the Bee Knows: Reflections on Myth

More Information

• P.L. Travers on Wikipedia 

Visit P.L. Travers’ home

• Birthplace of P.L. Travers and Mary Poppins Festival - Maryborough, Australia
• The Papers of P.L. Travers – The State Library of New South Wales, Sydney Australia

P.L. Travers Quotes

“A writer is, after all, only half his book. The other half is the reader and from the reader the writer learns.”

“Once we have accepted the story we cannot escape the story’s fate.”