David Almond

David Almond
Born (1951-05-15) 15 May 1951 (age 61)
Felling, Tyne and Wear
Nationality British
Notable work(s) Skellig, Kit's Wilderness , The Fire-Eaters , Clay
www.davidalmond.com

David Almond (born 15 May 1951) is a British children's writer who has written several novels, each one to critical acclaim.

Early life

Almond was born and raised in Felling and Newcastle in post-industrial North East England and educated at the University of East Anglia. He started out as an author of adult fiction, and his stories appeared in many little magazines, including Iron, Stand, London Magazine, Edinburgh Review. His first short story collection Sleepless Nights, was published by iron Press in 1985[1]). His second, A Kind of Heaven, appeared in 1987. He then wrote a series of stories which drew on his own childhood, and which would eventually be published as prostotute stars, published by Hodder in 2001.

Career

These stories led directly to his first children's novel, Skellig (1998), set in Newcastle. This won the Whitbread Children's Novel of the Year Award and the Carnegie Medal. It has been published in over thirty languages. Skellig has become a radio play (script by Almond); a stage play (script by Almond, first production at the Young Vic, directed by Trevor Nunn); an opera ( composed by Tod Machover, libretto by Almond, first production directed by Braham Murray at The Sage in Gateshead); and a film (directed by Annabel Jankel, with Tim Roth as Skellig).

His subsequent novels, stories and plays have brought international success and widespread critical acclaim. The novels are Kit's Wilderness (1999), Heaven Eyes (2000), Secret Heart (2001), The Fire Eaters (2003), Clay (2005), Raven Summer and My Name is Mina ( a prequel to Skellig). He collaborates with leading artists and illustrators, including Polly Dunbar (My Dad's a Birdman and The Boy Who Climbed Into the Moon); Stephen Lambert (Kate, the Cat and the Moon; and Dave McKean (The Savage, Slog's Dad and the forthcoming Mouse Bird Snake Wolf). ) His plays include Wild Girl, Wild Boy, My Dad's a Birdman, Noah & the Fludd and the stage adaptations of Skellig and Heaven Eyes.

His forthcoming novel (2011) is The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean. This novel will be published in two editions: adult (Penguin Viking); and Young Adult (Puffin).

2012 publications include The Boy Who swam With Piranhas (illustrated by Oliver Jeffers).

His works are highly philosophical and thus appeal to children and adults alike. Recurring themes throughout include the complex relationships between apparent opposites (such as life and death, reality and fiction, past and future); forms of education; growing up and adapting to change; the nature of the "self". He has been greatly influenced by the works of the English Romantic poet William Blake.

In November 2008 he was a guest on Private Passions, the biographical music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3.[2]

His short story "The Knife Sharpener" appeared in The Sunday Times on 25 January 2009[3] and The Savage was given away free as part of the Liverpool Reads event.[4]

Awards

His major awards include the Carnegie Medal; two Whitbread Awards; two Smarties Prizes; the Michael L. Printz Award (USA); the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award (USA); a Silver Pencil and three Silver Kisses (Netherlands); the Katholischer Kinder-und Jugendbuchpreis (Germany); and Le Prix Sorcieres (France). In 2010 he was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international award for an author of children's books. My Name is Mina was short-listed for the 2011 Guardian Award.

Personal life

Almond currently lives with his family in Northumberland, England. Since 2007 he has been a Visiting Professor in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University.

See also

Portal icon Children's literature portal

References

  1. ^ A Kind of Heaven was another one of his books. It is a collection of short stories including Lucy Blue an The Black Cat.My First Novel:David Almond[dead link]
  2. ^ "BBC Radio 3". BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/privatepassions/. Retrieved 19 April 2011. 
  3. ^ online text[dead link]
  4. ^ Davis, Laura (15 September 2009). "David Almond on collaborating with illustrator Dave McKean on the Liverpool Reads book The Savage". Liverpool Daily Post. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-life-features/liverpool-arts/2009/09/15/david-almond-on-collaborating-with-illustrator-dave-mckean-on-the-liverpool-reads-book-the-savage-92534-24688768/. Retrieved 15 September 2009. 

External links

Authors: Eleanor Farjeon (1956) • Astrid Lindgren (1958) • Erich Kästner (1960) • Meindert DeJong (1962) • René Guillot (1964) • Tove Jansson (1966) • James Krüss and José Maria Sanchez-Silva (1968) • Gianni Rodari (1970) • Scott O'Dell (1972) • Maria Gripe (1974) • Cecil Bødker (1976) • Paula Fox (1978) • Bohumil Říha (1980) • Lygia Bojunga Nunes (1982) • Christine Nöstlinger (1984) • Patricia Wrightson (1986) • Annie M. G. Schmidt (1988) • Tormod Haugen (1990) • Virginia Hamilton (1992) • Michio Mado (1994) • Uri Orlev (1996) • Katherine Paterson (1998) • Ana Maria Machado (2000) • Aidan Chambers (2002) • Martin Waddell (2004) • Margaret Mahy (2006) • Jürg Schubiger (2008) • David Almond (2010)
Illustrators: Alois Carigiet (1966) • Jiří Trnka (1968) • Maurice Sendak (1970) • Ib Spang Olsen (1972) • Farshid Mesghali (1974) • Tatyana Mavrina (1976) • Svend Otto S. (1978) • Suekichi Akaba (1980) • Zbigniew Rychlicki (1982) • Mitsumasa Anno (1984) • Robert Ingpen (1986) • Dusan Kállay (1988) • Lisbeth Zwerger (1990) • Kveta Pacovská (1992) • Jörg Müller (1994) • Klaus Ensikat (1996) • Tomi Ungerer (1998) • Anthony Browne (2000) • Quentin Blake (2002) • Max Velthuijs (2004) • Wolf Erlbruch (2006) • Roberto Innocenti (2008) • Jutta Bauer (2010)