When she doodled a little rhyme about a scrappy dog on the back of a shopping list, Lynley Dodd didn't realise she would be making literary history. But when Hairy Maclary was released in Aotearoa in 1983, a character was born that would go on to sell over five million books worldwide and cement the author as one of our most beloved children's writers and illustrators.
Now, Dame Lynley Dodd takes audiences inside her creative process for the very first time in Lynley Dodd: Writing the Pictures, Painting the Words. Directed by Susan Leonard (Te Arawa) and produced by Hex Work Productions, the doco is a special one-off documentary for The Spinoff. Sharing the inspiration behind some of her most memorable stories, Dodd also reveals she is working on a brand new project at the age of 81 that has been 10 years in the making.
Image: author and illustrator Lynley Dodd