Sherryl Jordan
Books were Sherryl Jordan’s life’s passion from childhood. She created her first book when she was just four years old – a mermaid story told in pictures on a notebook of blue paper. Between her school days and the age of forty, Sherryl wrote twelve novels and numerous picture books, though none were accepted for publication. It was her thirteenth novel, Rocco, that became her first published novel and marked the beginning of her remarkable career as an author.
Sherryl’s greatest joy was writing stories set in the ancient world. She also wrote several novels set in fantasy worlds. She was drawn to the simplicity of life in Medieval times – the people’s connection with the land and seasons, and the superstitions and beliefs that governed their daily lives. She was intrigued by the tragic ignorance of Medieval justice and the tension between superstition and rationality.
Her stories were inspired by ordinary people caught within that tension – people who were different, who struggled against superstition and ignorance, prejudice and injustice in order to live out their true destiny and become the people they were born to be.
Born: 8 June 1949, Hāwera, New Zealand
Died: 15 December 2023
