Maybe the GREATEST author few know of in 2026.
The proposed senior English curriculum in NZ – with the design led by Elizabeth Rata – is deeply dull and narrow. It is also ideologically aimed – by her own admission – to prevent the success of any “decolonisation” in our schools.
It is limiting in terms of the fact that great literature can come from any culture across the globe.
No one doubts that C. S. Lewis was influential through his range of writings in the 20th century – including through WW2. And yet Lewis regarded a man called George MacDonald as his “master”. He wrote:
In making this collection I was discharging a debt of justice. I have never concealed the fact that I regarded [MacDonald] as my master; indeed I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him. But it has not seemed to me that those who have received my books kindly take even now sufficient notice of the affiliation. Honesty drives me to emphasize it.
As we try and improve education in NZ, reduce reliance on screens, improve literacy, inspire imagination and creativity we would do well to embrace broad authorship. MacDonald was “the friend and mentor of Lewis Carroll, and a friend and arguable literary influence of Mark Twain. Besides C.S. Lewis, he has also been an influence to many other authors: J.R.R. Tolkien, E. Nesbit, and Madeleine L’Engle, to name a few. MacDonald’s books are worth being considered for inclusion in any curriculum/reading list:
My favourites are:
The Princess and the Goblin (1872)
The Princess and Curdie (1883)
Phantastes (1858)
The Golden Key (1867) – read to every class I have ever taught.
At the Back of the North Wind (1871) – a sitter to ne a GREAT movie by the likes of Sir Peter Jackson.
Lilith (1895)