Hilary (l) and Meredith (r), looking very serious.
About Us
Maddy Mara is the pen name of Australian creative duo Hilary Rogers and Meredith Badger. Hilary is a writer and former publisher; Meredith is a writer and teaches English as a second language. Together they have written or created many bestselling series for kids.
Maddy Mara’s series include Dragon Games, Itty Bitty Kitty and Dragon Girls, which has sold two million copies since launching in 2021. They have also written the creative nonfiction picture books The Greatest Mistakes that Went Right and The Wonders of Never Giving Up. They both currently live 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 the past decade, Meredith has lived in Germany, but she was missing Hilary too much so 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 our 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 ourkeyboards.)
How old are you?
If you add our ages together, we are less 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: I love 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.