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Mary & Conrad Buff
American husband and wife writing team who collaborated (both writing and illustrating) on a number of children's books.
Mary was born in 1890 in Cincinnati. She had an early interest in art and poetry and later studied art. She married Conrad Buff in 1922 and worked as a teacher and museum curator before beginning her writing career.
Conrad Buff was born in Switzerland and grew up on a farm. He emigrated to America in 1904 where he worked in various jobs and pursued his hobby of painting, until becoming recognised as a talented artist. He settled in the West, after falling in love with its landscape.
Mary and Conrad published a total of 14 books together, with Mary mainly writing the story and her husband illustrating. These stories reflect their backgrounds, featuring both the American West and Switzerland. The theme of nature is also recurrent in their works. Some of their books were nominated for the Newbery Medal. As far as I know just one of their books featured horses and is a typical boy's ranching story, although set against a Mormon backdrop. It has very nice illustrations but the story may not appeal to horse-lovers because of the old-fashioned, cruel way the wild horse is caught and broken.
Mary died in 1970 and Conrad in 1975.
Source: Something About the Author
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