Hilary (l) and Meredith (r), trying to look serious.
About Us
Hilary is a writer and former publisher; Meredith is a writer and tutor of English as a second language. Together they have written or created many bestselling series for kids.
Maddy Mara’s series include Dragon Girls, which has sold millions of copies around the world, Jet Set Pets, Forever Fairies, Dragon Games, and Itty Bitty Kitty. Maddy Mara also writes picture books such as Brave in Every Which Way, The Greatest Mistakes that Went Right, and The Wonders of Never Giving Up. The authors live and work on the lands of the Wurundjeri people in Melbourne, Australia.
How Hilary and Meredith look when working together.
FAQs
Why do you write together?
We always have a million ideas for books; together we can write twice as many books as we can alone! Also, we have twice as much fun when we collaborate. If one of us gets stuck, or is wondering if that chapter is the worst thing that’s ever been written, the other is always there to help. We have quite similar brains (we always know how to make the other laugh), but we have very different personalities (Hilary talks too much; Meredith worries too much). Now that we think about it, it’s possible that we’re actually one human split into two quite small parts…
How did you choose the name Maddy Mara?
At first we tried to come up with easy, random pen names to suggest to our publisher. Luckily they said no to all our terrible ideas, and suggested we try something that had personal meaning. That was when we starting melding our names. But neither Hiledith or Merery roll off the tongue. So then we starting thinking about our daughters, as they are very different sorts of readers and we want our books to appeal to all sorts of kids. Mere’s daughter is Madeleine and Hilary’s is Asmara; when we melded their nicknames (Maddy and Mara respectively), the name immediately felt right.
Where do you both live?
We are both Australian, and both of us currently live in Melbourne. For a while, Meredith lived in Germany, but she was missing Hilary too much and decided to return (that’s not the reason she gives for coming home, but Hilary knows better).
Do either of you have pets?
We are both cat-lovers and both acquired kittens in 2023. Hilary's is called (of course!) Itty Bitty. He is a boy though, which is quite confusing as in their books, Itty Bitty is a girl. Meredith's kitten is called Panko. She is a total scaredy-cat but luckily she is also very fluffy and cute. Both our cats are nearby while we work (in fact, sometimes they are right on top of our keyboards.)
How old are you?
If you add our ages together, we are only slightly more than a century. Dumbledore was much older than this when he died so we are actually very young, even when added together.
What are 3 of your favourite things?
Hilary: The smell of concrete after rain, the first sip of coffee, watching people run for public transport, and just make it.
Meredith: Drinking coffee in the morning, knitting to relax in the evening, and eating out with clever, funny people (like Hil!) at any time.
If you were a dragon girl, who would you be?
Hilary: I wish I were a quiet and thoughtful dragon girl like Willa (#2) or Quinn (#6), but in reality I’m more like Azmina (#1) or the very mouthy Stella (#9).
Meredith: I am definitely a quiet Willa-type but I would like to be Aisha (#5) as she has a very cute forest pet: PlushyPup.