Barbara Leonie Picard (1917–2011)

Born of a French father and Venezuelan-German mother; her parents separated when she was young, and she lived a rather reclusive life as a child. After graduating high school, she became a librarian. During WWII, she began to write, and her first book of fairy tales, The Mermaid and the Simpleton, was published in 1949. She subsequently wrote The Faun and the Woodcutter's Daughter (1951). These tales were modeled on those of Oscar Wilde and Andersen, whose works she much admired. At Oxford University Press' request, she began writing retellings of epics, myths, and legends, in which she had always been interested. She also wrote historical novels for children, her best-received being One is One (1965), of which one reviewer said "it has the cleansing power of a great literary experience." Aside from folk culture, mythology & comparative religion, archaeology, primitive and Oriental music, she likes: "clocks, the climate of the British Isles, trees, animals of every kind," theatre, opera, embroidery, and Japanese prints. Sources: Something About the Author 2 (1971); Gale Literature Resource Center (accessed May 8, 2009)