Margaret Hazzard

{{Short description|Australian writer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}

{{Use Australian English|date=October 2016}}

Margaret Hazzard (Ivy Margaret Hazzard) 1910 – 19 January 1987 was an Australian author born in Hertfordshire, England.{{Cite web|url=https://online.justice.vic.gov.au/bdm/indexsearch.doj?viewSequence=200&language=en&trxId=IDX&commandAction_displayDetailsAction%3D7D734B0E417581475D0CCBD4B564B199|title=Family history search|publisher=Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria|access-date=19 November 2016}}

Hazzard immigrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1960{{Cite news|title=The land of do-it-yourself|date=April 9, 1968|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=50|via=Newspapers.com}} and established a career as a freelance writer, publishing in The Sydney Morning Herald{{Cite news|title=A tourist trail which leads back to the old diggings|date=24 May 1971|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=21|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|title=Caught in a trap|date=29 June 1967|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=24|via=Newspapers.com}} and the Australian Women's Weekly. She also worked as a teacher, taking short courses in writing fiction and biography at the Centre of Adult Education (CAE) in Melbourne.

In 1970 Hazzard founded the Victorian Branch of the Society of Women Writers and was elected chair from 1970 to 1974. The Society established the biennial Margaret Hazzard Award in 1980 in recognition of her contribution.{{cite web|title=Saluting our proud tradition of women writers and writing: the Margaret Hazzard story |publisher=The Society of Women Writers |url=http://home.vicnet.net.au/~swwvic/newsletter.html |accessdate=2008-02-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070902232025/http://home.vicnet.net.au/~swwvic/newsletter.html |archive-date=2 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}

Hazzard moved to Norfolk Island in 1974{{Cite web|url=http://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A110885|title=Margaret Hazzard|date=24 December 2007|website=AustLit|access-date=19 November 2016}} where she began her "most prolific writing period".{{Cite web|url=http://home.vicnet.net.au/~swwvic/newsletter.html |title=Saluting our proud tradition of women writers and writing: the Margaret Hazzard story |date=June 2007 |publisher=The Society of Women Writers Victorian Branch |access-date=November 19, 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070902232025/http://home.vicnet.net.au/~swwvic/newsletter.html |archive-date=2 September 2007 }}

Hazzard died in 1987 and is buried at Mount Macedon, Victoria.