View source for P. L. Travers

{{short description|Australian-British novelist, actress and journalist (1899–1996)}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024|cs1-dates=y}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->|
| resting_place = St Mary the Virgin's Church, [[Twickenham]], London
| image = P.L. Travers as Titania in a production with Alan Wilkie.jpg 
| caption = Travers in the role of [[Titania (A Midsummer Night's Dream)|Titania]] in a production of ''[[A&nbsp;Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', {{circa|1924|lk=yes}}
| pseudonym = Pamela Lyndon Travers
| birth_name = Helen Lyndon Goff
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1899|8|9}}
| birth_place = [[Maryborough, Queensland|Maryborough]], [[Colony of Queensland]], British Empire
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1996|04|23|1899|08|09}}
| death_place = [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], London, England
| honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]]
| nationality = <!-- use only when necessary per [[WP:INFONAT]] -->
| occupation = {{hlist|Writer|actress|journalist}}
| period = 
| genre = Children's literature, fantasy
| notableworks = ''[[Mary Poppins (book series)|Mary Poppins]]'' book series
| movement = 
| spouse = 
| partner = 
| children = 1
| relatives = 
}}

'''Pamela Lyndon Travers''' {{postnominals|OBE}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|r|æ|v|ər|z}} {{respell|TRAV|ərz}}; born '''Helen Lyndon Goff'''; 9 August 1899 – 23 April 1996) was an Australian-born British writer who spent most of her career in England.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/603648/PL-Travers "P.L. Travers (British author)"]. ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.</ref> She is best known for the [[Mary Poppins (book series)|''Mary Poppins'' series]] of books,<ref>These are usually classified as children's books, but Travers stated many times that they were not written for children.</ref> which feature the [[:wikt:eponym|eponymous]] [[Mary Poppins (character)|magical nanny]].

Goff was born in [[Maryborough, Queensland]], and grew up in the [[The bush|Australian bush]] before being sent to boarding school in Sydney. Her writing was first published when she was a teenager, and she also worked briefly as a professional [[Shakespearean actress]]. Upon emigrating to England at the age of 24, she took the name "Pamela Lyndon Travers" and adopted the pen name '''P. L. Travers''' in 1933 while writing the first of eight ''Mary Poppins'' books.

Travers travelled to New York City during [[World War II]] while working for the [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|British Ministry of Information]]. At that time, [[Walt Disney]] contacted her about selling to [[Walt Disney Pictures|Walt Disney Productions]] the rights for a film adaptation of ''Mary Poppins''. After years of contact, which included visits to Travers at her home in London, Walt Disney obtained the rights and the film [[Mary Poppins (film)|''Mary Poppins'']] premiered in 1964. 

In 2004, a [[Mary Poppins (musical)|stage musical adaptation]] of the books and the film opened in the [[West End theatre|West End]]; it premiered on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in 2006. A film based on Disney's efforts to persuade Travers to sell him the ''Mary Poppins'' film rights was released in 2013, ''[[Saving Mr. Banks]]'', in which Travers is portrayed by [[Emma Thompson]]. In a 2018 sequel to the original film, ''[[Mary Poppins Returns]]'', Poppins, played by [[Emily Blunt]], returns to help the Banks family once again.

== Early life ==
Helen Lyndon Goff, also known as Lyndon, was born on 9 August 1899 in [[Maryborough, Queensland|Maryborough]], Queensland, Australia, at her family's home,{{Sfn|Lawson|2006|p=23}} which was the upstairs manager's residence at a bank in the city's "Central Business District (CBD)".<ref name="auto">{{cite news |last1=Marsellos |first1=Brad |title=Bank invests in stories to celebrate Mary Poppins author in regional Queensland |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-07/bank-invests-in-stories-to-celebrate-mary-poppins-author/11281884 |access-date=25 January 2025 |publisher=ABC |date=7 July 2019}}</ref> This bank building, the [[Australian Joint Stock Bank Building, Maryborough]] is on the [[Queensland]] State Heritage Register.<ref>{{cite web |title=Australian Joint Stock Bank (former) |url=https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=600693&lang=en |website=Queensland Heritage Register |publisher=Queensland Government |access-date=26 January 2025}}</ref>

Her mother, Margaret Agnes Goff (née Morehead), was Australian and the niece of [[Boyd Dunlop Morehead]], [[Premier of Queensland]] from 1888 to 1890.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}} Her father, Travers Robert Goff, was unsuccessful as a bank manager owing to his alcoholism, and was eventually demoted to the position of [[bank clerk]].<ref name="picardie">{{cite news|last=Picardie|first=Justine|date=28 October 2008|title=Was P L Travers the real Mary Poppins?|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] (telegraph.co.uk)|location=London|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/donotmigrate/3562643/Was-P-L-Travers-the-real-Mary-Poppins.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/donotmigrate/3562643/Was-P-L-Travers-the-real-Mary-Poppins.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |access-date=25 November 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The two had been married on 9 November 1898, nine months before Helen was born.{{Sfn|Lawson|2006|p=23}} The name Helen came from a maternal great-grandmother and great-aunt. Although she was born in Australia, Goff considered herself Irish and later expressed the sentiment that her birth had been "misplaced".{{Sfn|Lawson|2006|p=|pp=23&ndash;24}}

As a baby she visited her great-aunt Ellie in [[Sydney]] for the first time; Ellie would figure prominently in her early life,{{Sfn|Lawson|2006|p=|pp=23&ndash;24}} as Goff often stayed with her.{{Sfn|Lawson|2006|p=24|pp=}} Goff lived a simple life as a child, given a penny a week by her parents as well as occasional other gifts. Her mother was known for giving Goff maxims and instructions while she loved "the memory of her father" and his stories of life in Ireland. Goff was also an avid reader, later stating that she could read at three years old, and particularly enjoying [[Fairy tale|fairy tales]].{{Sfn|Lawson|2006|p=|pp=26&ndash;29, 41}}

The family lived in Maryborough until Goff was three years old, when they relocated to [[Brisbane]] in 1902. Goff recalled an idealised version of her childhood in Maryborough as an adult. In Brisbane, Goff's sister was born.{{Sfn|Lawson|2006|p=|pp=26&ndash;29}} In mid-1905 Goff went to spend time with Ellie in Sydney.{{Sfn|Lawson|2006|p=30|pp=}} Later that year, Goff returned and the family moved to [[Allora, Queensland]].{{Sfn|Lawson|2006|pp=35}} In part because Goff was often left alone as a child by parents who were "caught up in their own importance", she developed a "form of self-sufficiency and [...had an] idiosyncratic form of fantasy life", according to her biographer Valerie Lawson, often pretending to be a mother hen{{Em dash}}at times for hours.{{Sfn|Lawson|2006|p=|pp=25&ndash;26}} Goff also wrote poetry, which her family paid little attention to. In 1906 Goff attended the Allora Public School.{{Sfn|Lawson|2006|p=|pp=44&ndash;45}} Travers Goff died at home in January 1907. Lyndon would struggle to come to terms with this fact for the next six years.{{Sfn|Lawson|2006|p=46|pp=}}

[[File:MaryPoppinsStatueAshfieldPark.jpg|thumb|upright|Mary Poppins statue in Ashfield Park in honour of Goff (Travers) who lived nearby from 1918 to 1924]]
Following her father's death, Goff, along with her mother and sisters, moved to [[Bowral]], New South Wales, in 1907. In Bowral she attended the local branch of the [[SCEGGS Darlinghurst|Sydney Church of England Girls Grammar School]] as a day student.{{Sfn|Lawson|2006 |p=50}}  From 1912 Goff [[Boarding school|boarded]] at [[Normanhurst School, Ashfield|Normanhurst School]] in [[Ashfield, New South Wales|Ashfield]], a suburb of [[Sydney]]. At Normanhurst, she began to love theatre. In 1914 she published an article in the ''Normanhurst School Magazine'', her first, and later that year directed a school concert. The following year, Goff played the role of [[Nick Bottom|Bottom]] in a production of ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''. She became a [[prefect]] and sought to have a successful career as an actress.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/the-truth-behind-mary-poppins-creator-pl-travers-20140104-30akz.html "The truth behind Mary Poppins creator P.L. Travers"] by Time Barlass, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 5 January 2014</ref>{{Sfn|Lawson|2006 |p=|pp=56&ndash;60}} Goff's first employment was at the [[Australian Gas Light Company]] as a cashier.<ref name=":0">{{Cite ODNB|id=62619|title=Goff, Helen Lyndon [''pseuds''. P. L. Travers, Pamela Lyndon Travers]}}</ref> Between 1918 and 1924 she resided at 40 Pembroke Street, [[Ashfield, New South Wales|Ashfield]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=P L Travers (Mary Poppins) statue and plaque |url=https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/arts/display/20125-p.-l.-travers-mary-poppins#:~:text=The%20bronze%20Mary%20Poppins%20Statue,Allora%2C%20when%20she%20was%20three.  |access-date=28 June 2023 |website=Monument Australia}}</ref> In 1920 Goff appeared in her first [[pantomime]].{{Sfn|Lawson|2006 |p=62|pp=}} The following year she was hired to work in a [[Shakespeare's plays|Shakespearean]] Company run by [[Allan Wilkie]] based in Sydney.{{Sfn|Lawson|2006 |p=|pp=64&ndash;65}}

== Career ==
Goff had her first role in the troupe as Anne Page in a March 1921 performance of ''[[The Merry Wives of Windsor]]''. She decided to go by the stage name of "Pamela Lyndon Travers", taking Travers from her father's name and Pamela because she thought it a "pretty" name that "flowed" with Travers.{{Sfn|Lawson|2006 |p=66|pp=}} Travers toured [[New South Wales]] beginning in early 1921 and returned to Wilkie's troupe in Sydney by April 1922. That month, in a review of her performance as [[Titania (A Midsummer Night's Dream)|Titania]] in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', a critic for [[Frank Morton (journalist)|Frank Morton]]'s ''Triad'' wrote that her performance was 'all too human'.{{Sfn|Lawson|2006 |p=|pp=67&ndash;69}}

The troupe travelled to New Zealand, where Travers met and fell in love with a journalist for  ''[[The Sun (New Zealand newspaper)|The Sun]]''. The journalist took one of Travers' poems to his editor and it was published in the ''Sun.'' Even after she left New Zealand Travers continued to submit works to the ''Sun'', eventually having her own column called "Pamela Passes: the ''Sun's'' Sydney Letter". Travers also had work accepted and published by publications including the ''Shakespeare Quarterly, Vision'', and ''The Green Room''. She was told to not make a career out of journalism and turned to poetry. ''The Triad'' published "Mother Song", one of her poems, in March 1922, under the name "Pamela Young Travers". ''[[The Bulletin (Australian periodical)|The Bulletin]]'' published Travers' poem, "Keening", on 20 March 1923, and she became a frequent contributor. In May 1923 she found employment at the ''Triad'', where she was given the discretion to fill at least four pages of a women's section{{Em dash}}titled "A Woman Hits Back"{{Em dash}}every issue. Travers wrote poetry, journalism, and prose for her section; Lawson notes that "erotic verse and [[coquetry]]" figured prominently.{{Sfn|Lawson|2006 |p=|pp=69&ndash;75}} She published a book of poetry, ''Bitter Sweet''.{{Sfn|Lawson|2006 |p=|pp=81}}

=== In England ===

{{Multiple image
| direction = vertical
| width = 190
| image1 = P.L. Travers - 50 Smith Street Chelsea London SW3 4EP.jpg
| image2 = P.L. Travers 1899-1996 Author of Mary Poppins lived and worked here 1946-1962.jpg
| caption1 = Travers' second London home in 50 Smith Street, [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], London
| caption2 = [[Blue plaque]] at the address
| align = 
| total_width = 
}}
On 9 February 1924, Travers left Australia for England, settling in London.{{Sfn|Lawson|2006 |p=80|pp=}} She only revisited Australia once, in the 1960s. For four years she wrote poetry for the ''[[Irish Statesman]]'',<ref name=":0" /> beginning while in Ireland in 1925 when Travers met the poet [[George William Russell]] (who wrote under the name "Æ") who, as editor of the ''Statesman'', accepted some of her poems for publication. Through Russell, whose kindness towards younger writers was legendary, Travers met [[W. B. Yeats]], [[Oliver St. John Gogarty]] and other [[List of poets|Irish poets]] who fostered her interest in and knowledge of world [[mythology]].{{sfn|Lawson|2005|p=185}}

After visiting [[Fontainebleau]] in France, Travers met [[George Ivanovich Gurdjieff]], an [[occultist]], of whom she became a "disciple". Around the same time she was taught by [[Carl Gustav Jung]] in Switzerland.<ref name=":0" /> In 1931, she moved with her friend Madge Burnand from their rented flat in London to a [[Cottage#Thatched cottages in England|thatched cottage]] in Sussex.<ref name="picardie" /> There, in the winter of 1933, she began to write ''Mary Poppins''.<ref name="picardie" /> During the 1930s, Travers reviewed drama for ''[[The New English Weekly]]'' and published the book ''Moscow Excursion'' (1934). ''Mary Poppins'' was published that year with great success. Many sequels followed.<ref name=":0" />

During the Second World War, Travers worked for the [[British Ministry of Information]], spending five years in the US, publishing ''I Go by Sea, I Go by Land'' in 1941.<ref name=":0" /> At the invitation of her friend [[John Collier (sociologist)|John Collier]], the [[Commissioner of Indian Affairs|US Commissioner of Indian Affairs]], Travers spent two summers living among the [[Navajo people|Navajo]], [[Hopi]] and [[Puebloan peoples|Pueblo]] peoples, studying their mythology and folklore.{{Sfn|Burness|Griswold|1982}}<ref name="witchell"> {{cite news|last=Witchell|first=Alex|date=22 September 1994|title=At Home With: P. L. Travers; Where Starlings Greet the Stars|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/22/garden/at-home-with-p-l-travers-where-starlings-greet-the-stars.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|access-date=21 November 2013}}</ref> Travers moved back to England at the end of the war, where she continued writing.<ref name=":0" /> She moved into 50 Smith Street, [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], London, which is commemorated with an English Heritage [[blue plaque]]. She returned to the US in 1965 and became [[Writer in residence|writer-in-residence]] at [[Radcliffe College]] from 1965 to 1966 and at [[Smith College]] in 1966 and lecturing at [[Scripps College]] in 1970.<ref name=":0" />{{sfn|Lawson|2006|p=290}} She published various works and edited ''[[Parabola: the Magazine of Myth and Tradition]]'' from 1976 to her death.<ref name=":0" />

== ''Mary Poppins'' ==
In 1926, Travers published a short story, "Mary Poppins and the Match Man", which introduced the nanny character of Mary Poppins and Bert the street artist.<ref>Valerie Lawson, ''Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P. L. Travers'', 2005, p. 100.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marypoppinsandthematchman.com/|title=Portfolio - Webflow HTML website template|website=www.marypoppinsandthematchman.com}}</ref> Published in London in 1934, the children's book ''Mary Poppins'' was Travers' first literary success. Seven sequels followed, the last in 1988, when Travers was 89.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Cullinan|first1=Bernice E|title=Encyclopedia of Children's Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0LyutQg6mroC&pg=PA784|page=784|date=2005|publisher=Continuum|isbn=978-0-82641778-7|access-date=9 November 2012|last2=Person|first2=Diane Goetz}}</ref>

While appearing as a guest on [[BBC Radio 4]]'s radio programme ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'' in May 1977, Travers revealed that the name "M. Poppins" originated from childhood stories that she contrived for her sisters, and that she was still in possession of a book from that era with this name inscribed within.<ref name="desisldisc">{{cite web|date=21 May 1977|title=P L Travers <!-- |first=Roy|last=Plomley -->|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/8f6bfcfc|work=Desert Island Discs|publisher=[[BBC Radio 4]]}} Audio recording of the episode featuring Travers with Roy Plumley.</ref> Travers's great-aunt, Helen Morehead, who lived in [[Woollahra]], [[Sydney]], and used to say "Spit spot, into bed," is a likely inspiration for the character.<ref>{{cite news|last=McDonald|first=Shae|date=18 December 2013|title=PL Travers biographer Valerie Lawson says the real Mary Poppins lived in Woollahra|newspaper=Wentworth Courier|publisher=[[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)]] [dailytelegraph.com.au]|location=Sydney|url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/pl-travers-biographer-valerie-lawson-says-the-real-mary-poppins-lived-in-woollahra/story-fngr8h22-1226785728393}}</ref><ref name="nance">{{cite news|last=Nance|first=Kevin|date=20 December 2013|title=Valerie Lawson talks ''Mary Poppins, She Wrote'' and P.L Travers: Biography reveals original character's sharp edge|page=2|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2013/12/20/valerie-lawson-talks-mary-poppins-she-wrote-and-pl-travers/|access-date=12 January 2014}} <!--content identical to another with different title and date 19 December; see TALK#ref name=nance --></ref>

=== Disney version ===
{{main|Mary Poppins (film)}}
The [[Musical film|musical]] [[film adaptation]] ''Mary Poppins'' was released by [[Walt Disney Pictures]] in 1964. Primarily based on the original 1934 novel of the same name, it also lifted elements from the 1935 sequel ''Mary Poppins Comes Back''. The novels were loved by Disney's daughters when they were children, and Disney spent 20 years trying to purchase the film rights to ''Mary Poppins'', which included visits to Travers at her home in London.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/saving-mr-banks-true-story-walt-disneys-battle-make-mary-poppins/ "Saving Mr Banks: the true story of Walt Disney's battle to make Mary Poppins"]. ''The Telegraph''. Retrieved 17 May 2017</ref> In 1961, Travers arrived in Los Angeles on a flight from London, her first-class ticket having been paid for by Disney, and finally agreed to sell the rights, in no small part because she was financially in dire straits.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/07/pl-travers-saving-mr-banks-original-mary-poppins "What Saving Mr Banks tells us about the original Mary Poppins"]. ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 17 May 2017</ref> Travers was an adviser in the production, but she disapproved of the Poppins character in its Disney version; with harsher aspects diluted, she felt ambivalent about the music and she so hated the use of animation that she ruled out any further adaptations of the series.<ref name="newman">{{cite news|last=Newman|first=Melinda|date=7 November 2013|title=''Poppins'' Author a Pill No Spoonful of Sugar Could Sweeten: Tunesmith Richard Sherman recalls studio's battles with Travers to bring Disney classic to life|newspaper=Variety|url=https://variety.com/2013/music/features/poppins-author-a-pill-no-spoonful-of-sugar-could-sweeten-1200802019|access-date=7 November 2013}}</ref> She received no invitation to the film's star-studded premiere until she "embarrassed a Disney executive into extending one". At the after-party, she said loudly, "Well. The first thing that has to go is the animation sequence." Disney replied, "Pamela, the ship has sailed."

Travers so disliked the Disney adaptation and the way she felt she had been treated during the production that when producer [[Cameron Mackintosh]] approached her years later about making the [[Mary Poppins (musical)|British stage musical]], she acquiesced only on conditions that British writers alone and no one from the original film production were to be directly involved.<ref name="ouzounian">{{cite news|last=Ouzounian|first=Richard|date=13 December 2013|title=P L Travers might have liked Mary Poppins onstage|newspaper=The Toronto Star|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/2013/12/13/pl_travers_might_have_liked_mary_poppins_onstage.html|access-date=6 March 2014}}</ref><ref name="rainey">{{cite news|last=Rainey|first=Sarah|date=29 November 2013|title=Saving Mr Banks: The true story of PL Travers|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10483126/Saving-Mr-Banks-The-true-story-of-PL-Travers.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10483126/Saving-Mr-Banks-The-true-story-of-PL-Travers.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |access-date=14 May 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref> That specifically excluded the [[Sherman Brothers]] from writing additional songs for the production. However, original songs and other aspects from the 1964 film were allowed to be incorporated into the production.<ref name="rochlin1">{{cite news|last=Rochlin|first=Margy|date=6 December 2013|title=A Spoonful of Sugar for a Sourpuss: Songwriter Recalls P. L. Travers, ''Mary Poppins'' Author|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/movies/songwriter-recalls-p-l-travers-mary-poppins-author.html|access-date=14 May 2015}}</ref> Those points were later stipulated in her last will and testament.<ref name="norman">{{cite news|last=Norman|first=Neil|date=14 April 2012|title=The real Mary Poppins|newspaper=Daily Express|url=http://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/314394/The-real-Mary-Poppins|access-date=14 May 2015}}</ref><ref name="erbland">{{cite web|last=Erbland|first=Kate|date=26 December 2013|title=The Dark, Deep and Dramatic True Story of ''Saving Mr. Banks''|url=http://www.film.com/movies/the-true-story-of-saving-mr-banks|access-date=14 May 2015|website=Film.com|archive-date=5 January 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160105050720/http://www.film.com/movies/the-true-story-of-saving-mr-banks}}</ref>

In the 1977 interview on the BBC's ''Desert Island Discs'', Travers remarked about the film, "I've seen it once or twice, and I've learned to live with it. It's glamorous and it's a good film on its own level, but I don't think it is very like my books."<ref>{{cite web|title=Saving Mr Banks (2013): Did the real P L Travers weep at the Mary Poppins movie premiere?|url=http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/saving-mr-banks.php|access-date=1 March 2020|publisher=History vs Hollywood}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mzp2|title=Desert Island Discs: P L Travers|date=23 May 1977|time=17:02|access-date=1 March 2020|work=BBC Radio 4}}</ref>

=== Later films ===
The 2013 film ''[[Saving Mr. Banks]]'' is a dramatised retelling of both the working process during the planning of ''Mary Poppins'' and of Travers's early life, drawing parallels with ''Mary Poppins'' and that of the author's childhood. The film stars [[Emma Thompson]] as {{nowrap|P. L. Travers}} and [[Tom Hanks]] as [[Walt Disney]]. Thompson considered it the most challenging of her career because she had "never really played anyone quite so contradictory or difficult before,"<ref>{{cite interview|last=Thompson|first=Emma|interviewer=Dave Davies|url=https://www.npr.org/2014/01/09/261044820/not-so-cheery-disposition-emma-thompson-on-poppins-cranky-creator|title=Not-So-Cheery Disposition: Emma Thompson on Poppins' Cranky Creator|work=Fresh Air|publisher=NPR|date=9 January 2014|access-date=16 April 2021|archive-date=16 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416033506/https://www.npr.org/2014/01/09/261044820/not-so-cheery-disposition-emma-thompson-on-poppins-cranky-creator|url-status=live}}</ref> but found the complicated character "a blissful joy to embody."<ref>Thompson, Emma (24 November 2014). [http://static.bafta.org/files/emma-thompson-a-life-in-pictures-transcript-195-piccadilly-24-november-2013-2101.pdf Interview with Boyd Hilton] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305074533/http://static.bafta.org/files/emma-thompson-a-life-in-pictures-transcript-195-piccadilly-24-november-2013-2101.pdf |date=5 March 2016 }}. London. A Life in Pictures. BAFTA</ref>

In 2018, 54 years after the release of the original Mary Poppins film, a sequel was released titled ''[[Mary Poppins Returns]]'', with [[Emily Blunt]] starring as Mary Poppins. The film, in which Mary Poppins returns to help Jane and Michael one year after a family tragedy, is set 25 years after the events of the first film.

== Personal life ==
Travers was reluctant to share details about her personal life, saying she "most identified with Anonymous as a writer" and asked whether "biographies are of any use at all". [[Patricia Demers]] was allowed to interview her in 1988 but not to ask about her personal life.<ref name=":0" />

[[File:P.L. Travers by Gertrude Hermes 04.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|Bust of P. L. Travers, c. 1944, by [[Gertrude Hermes]], [[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]], London]]
Travers never married.<ref name=":0" /> Though she had numerous fleeting relationships with men throughout her life, she lived for more than a decade with Madge Burnand. They shared a London flat from 1927 to 1934, then moved to Pound Cottage near [[Mayfield and Five Ashes|Mayfield]], East Sussex, where Travers published the first of the ''Mary Poppins'' books. Their relationship, in the words of one biographer{{who|date=April 2024}}, was "intense", but equally ambiguous.

At the age of 40, two years after moving out on her own, Travers adopted a baby boy from Ireland whom she named Camillus Travers. He was the grandchild of [[Joseph Maunsel Hone|Joseph Hone]], the first biographer of [[George Moore (novelist)|George Moore]] and [[W. B. Yeats]], who was raising his seven grandchildren with his wife. Camillus was unaware of his true parentage or the existence of any siblings until the age of 17, when Anthony Hone, his twin brother, came to London and knocked on the door of Travers's house at 50 Smith Street, Chelsea.{{clarify|reason=What did Camillus learn from Anthony about their true parentage?|date=September 2024}} He had been drinking and demanded to see his brother. Travers refused and threatened to call the police. Anthony left but, soon after, following an argument with Travers, Camillus went looking for his brother and found him in a pub on [[King's Road]].<ref name="hone">{{cite news|last1=Hone|first1=Joseph|date=6 December 2013|title=Steely, self-centred, controlling — the Mary Poppins I knew|work=Irish Examiner|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/features/steely-self-centred-controlling-the-mary-poppins-i-knew-251767.html|access-date=8 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Minus|first=Jodie|date=10–11 April 2004|title=There's something about Mary|page=R6|newspaper=The Weekend Australian}}</ref> Anthony had been fostered and raised by the family of the essayist [[Hubert Butler]] in Ireland. Through Camillus, Travers had three grandchildren.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fox |first1=Margalit |title=P. L. Travers, Creator of the Magical and Beloved Nanny Mary Poppins, Is Dead at 96 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/25/arts/p-l-travers-creator-of-the-magical-and-beloved-nanny-mary-poppins-is-dead-at-96.html |website=The New York Times|date=25 April 1996 }}</ref>

Travers was appointed [[Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) in the [[1977 New Year Honours]]. The investiture ceremony took place later that year at [[Buckingham Palace]], with the [[Prince Edward, Duke of Kent|Duke of Kent]] standing in for Queen [[Elizabeth II]]. She died in London on 23 April 1996 at the age of 96.<ref name="rochlin2">{{cite news|last=Rochlin|first=Margy|date=3 January 2014|title=Not Quite All Spoonfuls of Sugar: Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson Discuss ''Saving Mr. Banks''|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/movies/awardsseason/tom-hanks-and-emma-thompson-discuss-saving-mr-banks.html|access-date=5 January 2014}}</ref> She is  buried at St Mary the Virgin's Church, [[Twickenham]], London.<ref>{{cite book |last = Wilson |first = Scott | date = 2016 | title = Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons | edition = 3rd |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7-DgDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA755 |location = Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher = McFarland & Company |page = 755 |isbn = 9780786479924}}</ref> Although Travers never fully accepted the way the Disney film version of ''Mary Poppins'' had portrayed her nanny figure, the film did make her rich.<ref>Valerie Lawson, ''Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P. L. Travers'', 2005, pp. 270–274.</ref> Her estate was valued for probate in September 1996 at £2,044,708.<ref>Valerie Lawson, ''Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P. L. Travers'', 2005, p. 360.</ref>

== The Story Bank ==
Travers' birthplace and childhood home in Maryborough is now a museum dedicated to her legacy, called The Story Bank.<ref name="auto"/> There is also an annual Mary Poppins festival in Maryborough, celebrating the city's connection to Travers.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Magee |first1=Isabella |title=Break out the umbrellas, the Mary Poppins Festival is making a comeback |url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/fraser-coast/break-out-the-umbrellas-the-mary-poppins-festival-is-making-a-comeback/news-story/2f496e2dc9909ede5eee0f44c16a28ab |access-date=25 January 2025 |publisher=Courier Mail |date=25 June 2021}}</ref>

== Travers crater ==
In 2018, a [[Travers (crater)|crater]] on the planet [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] was named in her honour.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15773 |title = Travers |publisher = [[NASA]] |work = Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature |accessdate = 10 March 2022}}</ref>

== Works ==
=== Books ===
* ''[[Mary Poppins (book series)|Mary Poppins]]'', London: Gerald Howe, 1934
* ''[[Mary Poppins Comes Back]]'', London: L. Dickson & Thompson Ltd., 1935
* ''[[I Go By Sea, I Go By Land]]'', London: Peter Davies, 1941
* ''[[Aunt Sass]]'', New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1941
* ''Ah Wong'', New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1943
* ''[[Mary Poppins Opens the Door]]'', London: Peter Davies, 1943
* ''[[Johnny Delaney]]'', New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1944
* ''[[Mary Poppins in the Park]]'', London: Peter Davies, 1952
* ''[[Gingerbread Shop]]'', 1952 (an adapted version of the "Mrs. Corry" chapter from ''Mary Poppins'')
* ''[[Mr. Wigg's Birthday Party]]'', 1952 (an adapted version of the "Laughing Gas" chapter from ''Mary Poppins'')
* ''[[The Magic Compass]]'', 1953 (an adapted version of the "Bad Tuesday" chapter from ''Mary Poppins'')
* ''[[Mary Poppins From A to Z]]'', London: Collins, 1963
* ''[[The Fox at the Manger]]'', London: Collins, 1963
* ''[[Friend Monkey]]'', London: Collins, 1972
* ''[[Mary Poppins in the Kitchen]]'', New York & London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975
* ''[[Two Pairs of Shoes]]'', New York: Viking Press, 1980
* ''[[Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane]]'', London: Collins, 1982
* ''[[Mary Poppins and the House Next Door]]'', London: Collins. 1988.

=== Collections ===
* ''Stories'', 1952

=== Non-fiction ===
* ''Moscow Excursion'', New York: [[Reynal & Hitchcock]], 1934
* ''George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff'', Toronto: Traditional Studies Press, 1973
* ''About the Sleeping Beauty'', London: [[HarperCollins|Collins]], 1975
* ''What the Bee Knows: Reflections on Myth, Symbol and Story'', New Paltz: Codhill Press, 1989

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

=== General and cited references ===
* {{cite journal|last1=Burness|first1=Edwina|last2=Griswold|first2=Jerry|date=Winter 1982|title=P. L. Travers, The Art of Fiction|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3099/the-art-of-fiction-no-63-p-l-travers|journal=The Paris Review|volume=Winter 1982 |number=63}}
* {{cite book|last=Lawson|first=Valerie|title=Out of the Sky She Came: The Life of P.L. Travers, Creator of Mary Poppins|date=1999|publisher=Hodder |isbn=978-0-7336-1072-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Lawson|first=Valerie|title=Mary Poppins She Wrote|publisher=[[Aurum Press]]|date=2005|isbn=978-1-84513-126-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Lawson|first=Valerie|url=https://archive.org/details/marypoppinsshewr0000laws|title=Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P. L. Travers|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=2006 <!-- |page=290 -->|isbn=978-0743298162|url-access=registration}}.
* {{cite book|last=Demers|first=Patricia|url=https://archive.org/details/pltravers00deme|title=P.L. Travers|publisher=Twayne Publishers|date=1991|isbn=978-0-8057-7005-6|url-access=registration}}

== Further reading ==
<!--2015-07-14, relegate from Citations to new section Further reading because these are not cited (altho set up for harvard style {sfn}-->
* Cesare Catà, La sapienza segreta di Pamela L. Travers, saggio introduttivo a La sapienza segreta delle api, Liberilibri, Macerata, 2019
* {{cite book|url=http://www.larsonpublications.com/catalog/lively-oracle|title=A Lively Oracle: A Centennial Celebration of P. L. Travers, Creator of Mary Poppins|publisher=Larson Publications|date=1999|editor-last1=Dooling Draper|editor-first1=Ellen|location=New York|editor2-last=Koralek|editor2-first=Jenny|access-date=3 July 2014 |archive-date=7 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807041047/http://www.larsonpublications.com/catalog/lively-oracle|url-status=dead}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |last=Travers |first=P. L. |date=1970–1971 |title=George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1877–1949) |encyclopedia=Man, Myth and Magic: Encyclopedia of the Supernatural |contribution-url=http://www.gurdjieff.org/travers1.htm|place=London|publisher=Purnell}}, 12 vol.; [https://www.gurdjieff.org/travers1.htm reprinted] in [http://www.gurdjieff.org/ ''International Gurdjieff Review''] 3.1 (Fall 1999): [https://www.gurdjieff.org/contents.3-1.htm "In Memoriam: An Introduction to Gurdjieff"] (the title of the issue)

=== Manuscript and pictorial sources ===
* P. L. Travers - papers, c. 1899–1988, 4.5 metres of textual material (28 boxes) - manuscript, typescript, and printed Clippings, Photographs, Objects, Drawings, State Library of New South Wales, [https://search.sl.nsw.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=ADLIB110316597&context=L&vid=SLNSW&search_scope=EEA&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US MLMSS 5341, MLOH 62]
* P. L. Travers - further papers, 1901–1991, Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Clippings, Photographs, Drawings, 2 boxes - 0.26 meters, State Library of New South Wales [https://search.sl.nsw.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=ADLIB110094938&context=L&vid=SLNSW&search_scope=EEA&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US MLMSS 5341 ADD-ON 2130]
* P. L. Travers, four diaries, 1948–1953, Camillus Travers is the son of P. L. Travers, author of Mary Poppins. He gave these notebooks to his mother as a boy and they were used by her for recording his schooldays and their holidays spent together, as well as other events over this period, State Library of New South Wales [https://search.sl.nsw.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=ADLIB110344213&context=L&vid=SLNSW&search_scope=EEA&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US MLMSS 7956]
* Family and personal photographs collected by P.L. Travers, c. 1891–1980, 1 portfolio (51 black and white, sepia, col. photographs, 2 photograph albums, 1 hand coloured lithograph, 17 coloured transparencies) various sizes, State Library of New South Wales [https://search.sl.nsw.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=ADLIB110333330&context=L&vid=SLNSW&search_scope=EEA&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US PX*D 334]

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Pamela Lyndon Travers|P. L. Travers}}
{{Wikiquote|P. L. Travers}}
* {{Isfdb name|36455}}
* {{Citation|title=Guide to the papers of P. L. Travers in the Mitchell Library|url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/mssguide/ptravers.pdf|editor-last=Anemaat|editor-first=Louise|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912205443/http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/mssguide/ptravers.pdf|publisher=[[State Library of New South Wales]]|archive-date=12 September 2014|url-status=dead}}.
* {{AustLit}}

{{Mary Poppins}}
{{Portal bar|Australia|children's literature|speculative fiction|United Kingdom}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Travers, Pamela Lyndon}}
[[Category:1899 births]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century English novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century English women writers]]
[[Category:Australian emigrants to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Australian fantasy writers]]
[[Category:Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Australian people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:Australian stage actresses]]
[[Category:Australian women children's writers]]
[[Category:Australian women novelists]]
[[Category:Australian women poets]]
[[Category:British children's writers]]
[[Category:British fantasy writers]]
[[Category:British women children's writers]]
[[Category:English women novelists]]
[[Category:English women poets]]
[[Category:Mary Poppins]]
[[Category:People from Bowral]]
[[Category:People from Maryborough, Queensland]]
[[Category:Students of George Gurdjieff]]
[[Category:English women science fiction and fantasy writers]]
[[Category:Writers from London]]
[[Category:Writers from Queensland]]