British fantasy author Diana Wynne Jones passed away on Saturday after battling cancer for the past two years. She was best known for her young adult novel Howl’s Moving Castle, which later became an Academy Award nominated animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Her loss to the literary community is tragic and will be felt for years to come.

I myself only recently read Howl’s Moving Castle, and I instantly fell in love with the story and the woman behind it. The love and care she put into crafting that book resonated with me and has since led me to seek out more of her work. Jones’ writing is definitely something I will enjoy reading to my own children someday.

If you want to know more about this extraordinary woman, Neil Gaiman wrote about his friendship with her over at his blog. It’s an interesting post.